KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) underwent a major correction amid volatility on the political front on Wednesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 1,146.62 points (-1.73 percent) to close at 65,280.16 points.
The market opened on a positive note and breached the 67,000 points level for the first time ever during the first few minutes. This fuelled profit-taking and the indices continued to move downward. Moreover, a six-member bench of the Supreme Court suspended the verdict of nullifying military trials of civilians accused of May 9 riots by a 5:1 majority. The case is related to the military trials of the civilians after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan in which the protesters damaged several military and state installations. The decision caused extreme selling pressure and the benchmark index suffered its steepest daily drawdown in almost two and a half months.
Largely across-the-board selling was witnessed with index-heavy sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, chemical, commercial banks, and refinery trading in the red. The experts termed the selling a much-needed correction, saying highly leveraged position and some selling by local institutions created this sell-off.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 2,666.58 points, showing an intraday high of 67,093.96 points and an intraday low of 64,427.38 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 813.09 points (-1.88 percent) to close at 43,279.64 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 587.75 points (-1.85 percent) to close at 31,689.62 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 209.23 million shares to 677.14 million shares against 467.91 million shares traded in the previous session. The overall market volumes increased by 388.78 million shares to 1,358.41 million shares against 969.63 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 153.68 million shares, followed by BOP (106.28 million) and KEL (90.07 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, BOP, KEL, HASCOL, and PTC, which formed over 36 percent of total volumes.
A total of 411 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 384 in the previous session, out of which shares of 92 closed up, shares of 304 companies closed down while shares of 15 companies remained unchanged. A total of 99 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 97 in the previous session, out of which share prices of 20 companies closed up, 77 companies closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased to 359,686 from 271,173 in the previous session, while the value traded increased by Rs10.73 billion to Rs37.66 against Rs26.93 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, SFL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs29.5 (+1.77 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,699.5. The runner-up remained MEHT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs23.82 (+5.33 percent) to Rs470.32. RMPL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs649 (-5.9 percent) per share, closing at Rs10,350, followed by NESTLE, the share price of which fell by Rs194 (-2.23 percent) to close at Rs8,506 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (269 points), fertilizer (233 points), technology & communication (111 points), oil & gas exploration companies (93 points), and food & personal care products (79 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained EFERT (84 points), FFC (80 points), TRG (70 points), MEBL (69 points), and MARI (65 points).
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained cable & electrical goods (11 points) and transport (7 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained POL (24 points), HUBC (19 points), PTC (18 points), PAEL (11 points), and BOP (10 points).
