The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure amid currency devaluation, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index registered a drop of 0.63% on Thursday, while both volume and value of shares traded declined significantly.
The fall in the index comes as the Pakistan rupee also recorded a depreciation for the fourth straight session against the US dollar.
Rupee closes near 187 after fourth straight loss against US dollar
The market opened on a positive note, as the benchmark index recorded an intra-day high of 46,067, up by 124 points. However, profit-taking soon kicked in, pulling the index towards a low 45,598 down by 343 points.
At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 45,652.62, a drop of 290.54 points or 0.63%.
“In the last trading hour, a rally was witnessed in the refinery sector as Pakistan Refinery Limited announced tremendous financial results, beating analyst expectations,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a post-market note.
However, the note said the market remained under pressure "due to further devaluation of PKR against the US Dollar and concerns over spikes in market treasury bill yields."
On the corporate front, Engro Corporation Limited announced its 1QCY22 financial result with a net profit of Rs8 billion alongside an earnings per share (EPS) of Rs13.84, compared to Rs8.3 billion and an EPS of Rs14.47 at the same time last year, witnessing a decline of 4% YoY.
Furthermore, Nimir Industrial Chemicals Limited in a notice to the bourse said that it has successfully completed the first phase of the expansion of its Chlor Alkali (Caustic Soda) plant, which has started its commercial operations.
KSE-100 suffers third successive fall, closes below 46,000
Sectors pushing the benchmark index lower included banks (61.8 points), E&P (37.3 points), fertilizer (35.3 points), cement (34.7 points) and technology (32.1 points).
Volume on the all-share index decreased significantly to 186.43 million from 235 million on Wednesday. The value of shares traded also declined to Rs5.62 billion from Rs8.01 billion recorded in the previous session.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 19.98 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 19.86 million shares, and Pak Refinery with 12.9 million shares.
Shares of 311 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 92 registered an increase, 198 recorded a fall, and 21 remained unchanged.