Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday remained under pressure due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 39.74 points or 0.85 percent to close at 4,640.98 points. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 4,695.59 and intraday low of 4,623.13 points. Volumes stood at 164.974 million shares. BRIndex30 decreased by 219.72 points or 0.9 percent to 24,195.20 points with a turnover of 102.555 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 337.32 points to 43,353.04 points. Daily trading volumes stood at 206.987 million shares as compared to 203.686 million shares traded Tuesday. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $1.2 million. The market capitalization decreased by Rs 73 billion to Rs 9.006 trillion. Out of total 370 active scrips, 280 closed in negative, only 76 in negative while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 11.467 million shares. However, it declined by Rs 1.26 to close at Rs 24.76 followed by Fauji Foods that lost Rs 1.33 to close at Rs 25.36 with 11.407 million shares. Island Textile and Shezan International were the top gainers with Rs 47.00 and Rs 23.99, respectively to close at Rs 1,075.00 and Rs 564.99. Rafhan Maize and Wyeth Pak were the top losers with Rs 100.00 and Rs 92.81, respectively to close at Rs 7,300.00 and Rs 1,797.19.
BR Commercial Banks Index gained 51.55 points or 0.59 percent to close at 8,791.06 points with total turnover of 16.525 million shares. BR Cement Index declined by 160.29 points or 2.77 percent to close at 5,622.21 points with 16.543 million shares. BR Oil and Gas Index lost 50.41 points or 0.97 percent to close at 5,156.26 points with 8.418 million shares.
BR Tech. & Comm. Index decreased by 29.55 points or 2.37 percent to close at 1,219.73 points with 27.383 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index closed at 6,460.65, down 81.42 points or 1.24 percent with 15.495 million shares. Danish Ladhani at JS Global Capital said that Pakistan equities closed negative with benchmark KSE-100 Index adjusting at 43,353 levels, down 0.8 percent. The bourse remained negative during most part of the day, as it entered the positive range for a short period only, and closed 337 points below.
Spur in heavyweight banks was witnessed where HBL (up 3.31 percent), UBL (up 1.82 percent), ABL (up 0.86 percent) and MCB (up 0.20 percent) closed in the green on the back of news that the Supreme Court observed fixing minimum rate of banks'' pension as Rs 8,000 and annually increasing at a rate of five percent with prospective effect. Moreover, BAHL (down 1.25 percent) announced its result for the year end 2017 where the company posted an EPS of Rs 7.78, with cash payout of Rs 3/share. MEBL (down 3.39 percent) also announced its result for the year end 2017 where the company reported consolidated EPS at Rs 5.46 and announced final cash payout of Rs 1.25/share. PTC (down 5.12 percent) announced its result for the year end 2017 where the company posted consolidated EPS of Rs 0.85 with no cash payout. In the E&P sector, PPL (down 0.08 percent) and OGDC (down 0.48 percent) closed in the red.