Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure Monday due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 38.53 points or 0.82 percent to close at 4,654.98 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,705.25 and intraday low of 4,649.43 points. Volumes stood at 190.930 million shares. BRIndex30 decreased by 224.54 points or 0.92 percent to 24,229.31 points with a turnover of 133.119 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 293.72 points to 43,515.08 points. Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 215.319 million shares as compared to 225.631 million shares traded Friday.
The market capitalization declined by Rs 49 billion to Rs 9.050 trillion. Out of total 352 active scrips, 212 closed in negative, 124 in positive while the value of 16 stocks remained unchanged.
Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 34.257 million shares. However, it lost Re 1.00 to close at Rs 17.88 followed by TRG Pak that gained Re 0.82 to close at Rs 39.13 with 12.159 million shares. Shifa Int. Hosp and Blessed Textile were the top gainers with Rs 14.78 and Rs 14.43, respectively to close at Rs 310.66 and Rs 306.32. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top losers with Rs 101.00 and Rs 87.50, respectively to close at Rs 7,400.00 and Rs 8,300.00.
BR Commercial Banks Index declined by 149.86 points or 1.71 percent to close at 8,635.03 points with total turnover of 9.749 million shares. BR Cement Index lost 23.78 points or 0.41 percent to close at 5.805 points with 15.520 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 5,198.99 points, down 28.08 points or 0.54 percent with 13.033 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index gained 8.45 points or 0.68 percent to close at 1,248.12 points with 19.592 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index plunged by 13.5 points or 0.21 percent to close at 6,549.62 points with 10.800 million shares.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that bearish trend was seen in the market as KSE-100 index was down 0.7 percent. WTI oil prices trended below the $60/bbl mark, which kept oil stocks under pressure. Investors also remained concerned on mounting external account pressure and depleting foreign exchange reserves. Since June 2017, reserves held by are down by $3.0 billion to $13.0 billion.
Stocks including UBL (down 3.2 percent), MCB (down 3.4 percent), HBL (down 2.2 percent), SNGP (down 3.0 percent) and BAFL (down 2.3 percent) withheld 220 points from the index whereas stocks including DAWH (up 3.6 percent), BAHL (up 0.7 percent), SHFA (up 5.0 percent), TRG (up 2.1 percent) and NCPL (up 5.0 percent) added 69 points to the index. On the sector front, Commercial Banks and Oil & Gas Exploration (E&P) cumulatively withheld 207 points from the index.