Index loses 72.27 points

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a volatile session on the last trading day of the week Friday. The benchmark KSE-100 index kept oscillating between 49,891.88 points intra-day high and 49,563.12 points intra-day low before settling at 49,623.81 points with a net loss of 72.27 points. Selling was seen on both local and foreign fronts. Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth $3.9 million.
Daily trading volumes at the ready counter declined to 392.029 million shares as compared to 398.532 million shares Thursday. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 9 billion to Rs 9.815 trillion. Out of total 400 active scrips, 229 closed in negative, 157 in positive while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 60.196 million shares. It gained Rs 0.44 to close at Rs 12.26 followed by Azgard Nine that increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 10.92 with 37.616 million shares. Silk Bank closed at Rs 1.88, up Rs 0.22 with 33.742 million shares. Colgate Palmolive and Sapphire Fiber were the top gainers with Rs 94.58 and Rs 47.50, respectively to close at Rs 2024.58 and Rs 997.55. Wyeth Pak and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers with Rs 171.47 and Rs 144.00, respectively to close at Rs 3,258.03 and Rs 9,011.00.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said institutional profit-taking was witnessed at PSX amid consolidation post major earning announcements. Weak sentiments remained in the trading session on renewed concerns for foreign outflows, surging circular debt in the energy sector and dismal payouts in the earnings season. He said support witnessed in banking stocks on rising inflation likely to raise banking spreads. "Surging trade deficit and reports of falling exports played a catalyst role in bearish close", he added.
Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said that volatility was witnessed at the local bourse as the index continuously juggled between positive and negative zone to close at 49,624 level, down 72 points. SNGP (up 0.52 percent) managed to close in the green despite frail sentiments as the Board of Directors in its meeting on March 01, 2017 approved capital intensive project of worth Rs 110.5 billion to develop 1,200 MMCFD capacity RLNG transportation pipeline from Sawan, Sindh to Qilla Sattar Shah (near Lahore, Punjab). Mixed sentiment was witnessed in Textiles where NML (up 2.84 percent) ended up on news that Nishat Group, which has recently entered into an agreement with Hyundai Motor Company to set up a car assembly plant in Pakistan, plans to introduce electric and hybrid passenger cars. Overall Auto sector took a breather as the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) decision to impose 100 percent cash margin requirement on import of certain goods including motor vehicles (both in CBU and CKD condition) has irked auto sector stakeholders. INDU (down 2.48 percent), HCAR (-0.67 percent) and PSMC (down 0.86 percent) were major losers among autos. Furthermore, in E&P sector shallow interest was seen by investors as crude oil prices recovered by only one regaining some of the previous trading session losses, as Russian production figures showed weak compliance with global deal to cut output. OGDC (down 0.43 percent) and PPL (down 0.79 percent) were among major movers from the aforementioned sector.