KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on November 18, 2022 due to selling on investor concerns over prevailing political situation in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 362.71 points on week-on-week basis and closed below 43,000 psychological-level at 42,730.24 points.

Trading activities also remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 25.8 percent to 186.28 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 251.07 million shares while average daily traded value on ready counter declined by 13.9 percent to Rs 6.26 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 32.62 points during this week to close at 4,302.69 points with average daily turnover of 148.192 million shares.

BRIndex30 decreased by 248.50 points on week-on-week basis to close at 16,115.12 points with average daily trading volumes of 100.819 million shares.

Total market capitalization declined by Rs 71 billion during this week to Rs 6.826 trillion.

“Uncertainties regarding the country’s liquidity position and ongoing political uncertainties kept the market range bound during the week, with the KSE-100 index settling down by 362.71 points or 0.84 percent on WoW at 42,730points”, an analyst at AKD Securities said.

Sector-wise, the top performing sectors were leasing companies (up 4.1 percent), chemicals (up 2.7 percent) and fertilizers (up 1.8 percent), while the least favourite sectors were miscellaneous (down 6.3 percent), vanaspati & Allied Industries (down 4.4 percent) and Sugar & Allied Industries (down 4.4 percent).

Stock-wise, top performers were LOTCHEM (up 6.7 percent), FCEPL (up 5.5 percent), Engro (up 5.0 percent), GHGL (up 4.9 percent) and TRG (up 4.1 percent), while laggards were UNITY (down 17.5 percent), PSEL (down 13.3 percent), KTML (down 6.4 percent), GATM (down 5.6 percent) and ILP (down 5.3 percent).

An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 faced downward pressure during the week dropping 0.8 percent on WoW to close in at 42,730 points.

Sector wise textile sectors (down 3.5 percent), oil & gas (down 2.8 percent) and food (down 1.8 percent) remained key underperformers whereas the chemical (up 2.7 percent) and fertilizer (up 1.8 percent) sectors were among top performers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022