The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reversed its direction on Friday and the KSE-100 Index fell 0.57% owing to lack of positive triggers.
Equities remained under pressure throughout the day and selling dominated the market. By the end of the session, the KSE-100 Index closed with a loss of 243.42 points or 0.57% at 42,150.1.
KSE-100 rises marginally in roller coaster session
Trading in the first session began on a positive note but downside pressures emerged and dragged the KSE-100 Index lower. The market traded in a narrow range in the second session and closed in the red.
Index heavy cement, fertiliser, banking and oil sectors ended with losses while automobile space closed mixed.
A report from Capital Stake stated that negative sentiments prevailed at the PSX on last trading session of the week.
“Indices traded in red for most part of the day, while volumes fell from last close,” it said.
A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that a negative session was witnessed by PSX.
“The benchmark KSE-100 index started off in green, but the continuous political unrest kept investors away, causing the index to hit an intraday low of 447.04 points,” it said. “Bears took charge of the bulls during the first session and kept on driving the market during the day as investors opted to square up their positions owing to the uncertain weekend ahead due to ongoing political noise.”
On the economic front, the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased $327 million on a weekly basis, clocking in $7.5 billion as of November 25, 2022.
Moreover, Pakistan’s exports contracted by 18.34% year-on-year in November, while imports fell by 33.6% in the same period. As a result, trade deficit declined by 42.46% to $2.87 billion.
Rupee remained unchanged against the US dollar in the inter-bank market and closed at 223.69 level against the greenback on Friday.
Sectors dragging the benchmark KSE-100 south included technology and communication (73.85 points), cement (71.24 points) and food and personal care products (20.20 points)
Volume on the all-share index fell to 143.2 million from 161.8 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded rose to Rs5.1 billion from Rs4.69 billion recorded in the previous session.
Dewan Motors was the volume leader with 12.3 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan with 10.7 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 10.4 million shares
Shares of 327 companies were traded on Friday, of which 85 registered an increase, 220 recorded a fall, and 22 remained unchanged.