KARACHI: Across-the-board selling pressure Thursday forced Pakistan Stock Exchange to close in deep red with heavy losses.

BRIndex100 lost 96.13 points or 1.96 percent to close at 4,796.58 points. BRIndex100 hit intraday high of 4,910.72 and an intraday low of 4,781.28 points. Volumes stood at 523.869 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 666.56 points or 2.64 percent to close at 24,586.00 points with total daily turnover of 392.958 million shares.

The KSE-100 Index plunged by 726.22 points or 1.60 percent and closed below 45,000 level at 44,724.09 points. Daily trading volumes on ready counter increased to 554.068 million shares as compared to 510.384 million shares traded on Wednesday.

Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $2.842 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 121 billion to Rs 7.949 trillion. Out of total 407 active scrips, 307 closed in negative and only 76 in positive while the value of 24 stocks remained unchanged.

Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 57.881 million shares however lost Rs 0.06 to close at Rs 10.04 followed by K-Electric that gained Rs 0.02 to close at Rs 4.12 with 49.488 million shares. Nestle Pakistan and Khyber Tobacco were the top gainers increasing by Rs 50.00 and Rs 32.51 respectively to close at Rs 6000.00 and Rs 466.12 while Unilever Foods and Sapphire Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 120.00 and Rs 66.00 respectively to close at Rs 13,880.00 and Rs 882.00.

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 113.43 points or 1.3 percent to close at 8,624.48 points with total turnover of 5.184 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 125.75 points or 1.73 percent to close at 7,155.30 points with 34.140 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 104.67 points or 1.18 percent to close at 8,750.88 points with 35.392 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 96.07 points or 1.7 percent to close at 5,544.03 points with 55.599 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 4,024.20 points, down 78.41 points or 1.91 percent with 28.704 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index plunged by 181.82 points or 4.87 percent to close at 3,551.41 points with 116.305 million shares.

Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that bears once again took control of the local bourse as the market made an intraday low of minus 809 points to close at 44,724 level, down 1.6 percent.

The market came under pressure on back of rumors that the State Bank might increase the policy rate by 50 basis points. Moreover, the spike in Coronavirus cases has also shaken the investors' sentiments.

Selling pressure was witnessed in the Technology and Refinery sector, where NETSOL (down 7.3 percent), AVN (down 5.8 percent), TRG (down 6.3 percent), NRL (down 7.1 percent), ATRL (down 5.6 percent) and PRL (down 6.0 percent) lost value to close in the negative region.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021