Market watch
Benchmark index dives 368.96 points to settle at 47,318.03
KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bearish on Wednesday due to concerns over surging Covid-19 cases and lockdowns, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 368.96 points (-0.77 percent) to close at 47,318.03 points.
The market opened on a positive note and traded in green zone for most of the session; however, it switched to the red zone in the last couple of hours amid selling pressure. The KSE-100 Index traded in a range of 633.1 points, showing an intraday high of 47,874.6 points and a low of 47,241.5 points.
Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 220.33 points (-0.68 percent) to close at 32,308.28 points, while All Share Islamic Index shed 179.84 points (-0.77 percent) to close at 23,085.66 points.
A total of 399 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 92 closed up, shares of 296 closed down while shares of 11 companies remained unchanged. Out of 96 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 17 closed up, 77 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 66.85 million to 365.78 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 2,176 to 136,143, and value traded decreased by Rs1.61 billion to Rs12.27 billion. Likewise, the market capitalisation decreased by Rs56.46 billion.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 40.38 million shares, followed by BYCO (26.89 million) and TELE (13.22 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, BYCO, TELE, UNITY, and KEL. They formed 28.5 percent of total volumes.
Sector wise, the index was let down by technology & communication with 90 points, cement with 42 points, refinery with 33 points, commercial banks with 31 points and oil & gas exploration companies with 30 points. The most points taken off the index were by TRG which stripped the index of 73 points followed by UNITY with 25 points, NRL with 17 points, HUBC with 16 points and LUCK with 16 points.
The sectors propping up the index were chemical with 13 points, tobacco with 4 points, miscellaneous with 3 points and sugar & allied industries with 3 points. The most points added to the index was by KTML which contributed 24 points followed by MEBL with 14 points, COLG with 14 points, PAKT with 4 points and DAWH with 4 points.
According to market experts, the equity market witnessed a dull trading session today amid rising cases of Covid-19 and anticipated lockdown in Karachi. Given this, investors were more focused on profit booking which brought the market down.
Aba Ali Habib Securities said in the closing note that markets on a global level tilted more towards downwards trajectories on the back of stumbling Chinese equities as concerns of regulatory risks continue to rise. In addition, international investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s report for hints on economic triggers and policy on Fed’s purchases of government bonds.
