KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a swift recovery after shedding over 1,200 points in the intra-day trading on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 411.61 points (-0.89 percent) to close at 45,597.24 points.
The market remained negative throughout the session after gaining 23 points in pre-opening session. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 1,243.7 points, showing an intraday high of 46,031.8 points and a low of 44,788.1 points.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 343.16 points (-1.09 percent) to close at 31,147.48 points, while All Share Islamic Index shed 206.8 points (-0.92 percent) to close at 22,142.14 points.
A total of 376 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 73 closed up, shares of 291 closed down while shares of 12 companies remained unchanged. Out of 97 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 24 closed up, 69 closed down, while four remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes increased by 257.85 million to 583.73 million shares. Total volume traded for the KSE-100 Index was 227.49 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 55,132 to 169,996, while the value traded increased by Rs5.01 billion to Rs17.33 billion. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs65.14 billion.
Among scrips, WTL led the table with 90.9 million shares, followed by ANL (36.1 million) and HUMNL (34 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, AN, HUMNL, BYCO and TELE, which formed 38 per cent of total volumes.
Sector wise, the index was let down by technology & communication with 77 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 40 points, textile composite with 38 points, fertilizer with 35 points and refinery with 33 points. The most points taken off the index were by TRG which stripped the index of 38 points followed by SYS with 38 points, HBL with 25 points, UBL with 20 points and CHCC with 16 points.
The sectors propping up the index were engineering with 6 points and glass & ceramics with one point. The most points added to the index were by MEBL which contributed 26 points followed by MCB with 11 points, SNGP with 9 points, FCCL with 9 points and BAHL with 7 points.
According to a report by Arif Habib Limited, leveraged positions of retail investors played havoc in the market, which received margin calls after continuous declines witnessed in the Index for the past couple of sessions. Besides, negative news flow relating to an MCB Bank employee having implication in a money laundering case also dented the sentiment. Technology and refinery sectors got hurt the most, however, selling pressure was also observed in cement, steel, fertilizer, banks and E&P sectors, it added.
In addition, the market participants expected further monetary tightening as signalled by the central bank in its monetary policy announcement on Monday. Moreover, the slide in global markets on fears of default by China’s property group Evergrande also contributed to the dip in Pakistan’s market. TLTP
