The benchmark KSE-100 Index close at 43,829.35 points
KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with bearish trend on Monday amid another low-volume session, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 647.89 points (-1.46 percent) to close at 43,829.35 points.
The market opened on a positive note and gained around 67 points but later there was a selling spree. The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 825.8 points, showing an intraday high of 44,544.1 points and a low of 43,718.3 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 409.45 points (-1.34 percent) to close at 30,189.78 points, while All Share Islamic Index shed 264.43 points (-1.22 percent) to close at 21,456.13 points.
A total of 380 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 66 closed up, shares of 300 closed down while shares of 14 companies remained unchanged. Out of 94 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 17 closed up and 74 closed down and three remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes increased by 50.51 million to 226.58 million shares. Total volume traded for the KSE-100 Index was 88.78 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 19,512 to 94,242, while the value traded increased by Rs1.43 billion to Rs8.27 billion. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs108.16 billion.
Among scrips, WTL led the table with 41.3 million shares, followed by TELE (13.8 million) and TREET (9.4 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TELE, TREET, HUMNL and TRG, which formed 35 percent of total volumes.
Sector wise, the index was let down by technology & communication with 202 points, cement with 121 points, commercial banks with 56 points, engineering with 49 points and food & personal care products with 44 points. The most points taken off the index were by TRG which stripped the index of 119 points followed by SYS with 68 points, LUCK with 26 points, FFC with 25 points and UNITY with 25 points.
The sectors propping up the index were oil & gas exploration companies with 15 points and chemical with 8 points. The most points added to the index were by PPL which contributed 21 points followed by COLG with 9 points, HUBC with 8 points, ABL with 7 points and FML with 7 points.
According to experts, the pessimism prevailed across the board due to concerns around upward risk in inflation amid rising energy and commodity prices. Furthermore, proposals over the implementation of a minimum global tax on technology companies on international forums weighed down on the local tech sector. Cement sector continued to put downward pressure on the index as coal prices resumed an upward rally, they further said.
They said that the increase in international oil prices failed to have a material impact on the stock prices of E&P stocks. Selling pressure was witnessed across the board, however, Technology, Cement, O&GMCs contributed to the downward trend, they added.
