KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another volatile session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 35.29 points (+0.08 percent) to close at 42,898.44 points, after losing around 2,000 points during the last three sessions.
The market opened on a negative note and remained in the red territory for over four hours on the backdrop of weak macroeconomic fundamentals and increasing political uncertainty. However, during the last one-and-a-half hour trading, investors opted for value hunting which helped the benchmark KSE-100 index close in positive territory.
The investors remained cautious amid continuous depreciation of rupee against the US dollar, ballooning trade deficit during the current fiscal year due to a massive growth in imports, and fast depleting foreign exchange reserves.
The uncertainty regarding the 7th review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme also added fuel to fire. The expected rise in the policy rate in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee meeting also kept the investors at bay.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 759.23 points, showing an intraday high of 43,032.50 and a low of 42,273.27 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 16.18 points (-0.06 percent) to close at 29,187.05 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 73.84 points (+0.35 percent) to close at 21,044.12 points.
A total of 352 companies traded shares in the stock exchange compared to 372 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 185 closed up, shares of 148 closed down while shares of 19 companies remained unchanged. Out of 93 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 50 closed up, 39 closed down and four remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 54.04 million to 284.50 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 65.55 million to 102.13 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 6,311 to 119,298, while the value traded decreased by Rs1.73 billion to Rs7.8 billion. Overall market capitalisation decreased by Rs3.94 billion.
Among scrips, TREET topped the volumes with 27.63 million shares, followed by TPLP (18.9 million) and TELE (16.86 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TREET, TPLP, TELE, WTL and GGL, which formed over 33 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, GATI remained the top gainer for the second straight day and witnessed an increase of Rs27.53 (+7.19 percent) per share, closing at Rs410.33. The runner-up remained HINOON, the share price of which climbed up by Rs20.01 (+3.77 percent) to Rs550.59. NESTLE remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs134.16 (-2.33 percent) per share, closing at Rs5,615.84, followed by SAPT, the share price of which fell by Rs50.12 (-4.18 percent) to close at Rs1,150 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards the north were cement (56 points), chemical (26 points), refinery (16 points), and oil & gas marketing companies and technology & communication (15 points each). The most points added to the index were by EPCL (22 points), PSO (18 points), LUCK (15 points), PIOC (12 points) and DGKC (11 points).
The sectors taking the index towards the south were fertilizer (54 points), commercial banks (43 points), oil & gas exploration companies (24 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (12 points) and insurance (4 points).
The most points taken off the index were by UBL (26 points), EFERT (19 points), FFC (17 points), ENGRO (15 points) and DAWH (14 points).
