KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) lost traction for the second straight session on Friday on account of profit-taking and doubts regarding upcoming monetary policy, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing another 484.94 points (-0.75 percent) to close at 63,813.06 points.
The market opened on a positive note and touched the day’s high within the first 10 minutes’ trading. However, excessive selling was witnessed in the session, with most of the stocks taking a beating. However, index-heavy OGDC and PPL traded in the green over hope of the circular debt management plan. Both OGDC and PPL touched almost their lower locks in the previous session. Moreover, there was also a bit of profit-taking as well, on account of the final trading session of the week. The benchmark index shed 1,009.37 points during the last two sessions of the week.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 790.89 points, showing an intraday high of 64,534.29 points and an intraday low of 63,743.40 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 169.32 points (-0.39 percent) to close at 43,213.10 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 103.63 points (-0.33 percent) to close at 31,537.38 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 78.04 million to 212.49 million shares against 290.53 million shares in the previous session. However, the overall market volumes decreased by 47.87 million shares to 412.82 million shares against 460.69 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, PIAA topped the volumes with 66.18 million shares, followed by KEL (47.11 million) and OGDC (31.07 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PIAA, KEL, OGDC, PPL, and HASCOL, which formed over 44 percent of total volumes.
A total of 341 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 352 in the previous session, out of which shares of 98 closed up, shares of 221 companies closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged. A total of 96 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies in the previous session, out of which share prices of 22 companies closed up, 71 companies closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased to 167,655 from 201,426 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased by Rs9.06 billion to Rs16.19 billion from Rs25.25 billion a session earlier.
In terms of rupee, ATLH remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs28.52 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs408.77. The runner-up remained INDU, the share price of which climbed up by Rs25.42 (+1.79 percent) to Rs1,445.77. UPFL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs400 (-1.83 percent) per share, closing at Rs21,500, followed by MARI, the share price of which fell by Rs82.29 (-3.25 percent) to close at Rs2,452.37 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards south remained fertilizer (144 points), commercial banks (130 points), technology and communication (64 points), cement (52 points), power generation and distribution and oil & gas marketing companies (31 points each), food and personal care products (18 points), and refinery (11 points).
Ten major companies depriving the index of points remained MARI (38 points), FFC (34 points), MEBL (21 points), HBL (19 points), ENGRO (18 points), SYS and EFERT (17 points each), HUBC (15 points each), TRG (12 points), and UBL (11 points).
The major sectors taking the index towards north were oil & gas exploration companies (17 points), automobile assemblers (11 points), paper and board (8 points) and cables and electric goods (3 points).
Ten major companies adding points to the index remained OGDC (61 points), HMB (9 points), ATLH (7 points), PKGS (6 points), INDU, LCI and PIAA (4 points each), ABL and ASL (3 points each), and TBL (2 points).
