KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bearish for the second day in a row on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 123.06 points (-0.28 percent) to close at 43,395.78 points.
The market opened on a positive note but remained in the green zone only for the first 15 minutes of the session, and succumbed to selling pressure. The market remained in the negative zone till end of the session as the investors opted to square their positions, anticipating aggressive interest rate hike on December 14.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 561.5 points, showing an intraday high of 43,606.4 points and a low of 43,044.9 points. Among other indices, the KSE
All Share Index shed 15.88 points (-0.05 percent) to close at 29,768.83 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 82.4 points (-0.39 percent) to close at 21,122.82 points.
A total of 342 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 131 closed up, shares of 192 closed down while shares of 19 companies remained unchanged. Out of 91 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 35 closed up, 55 closed down and one remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 21.32 million to 179.17 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 14.92 million shares to 82.48 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 19,566 to 86,043, while the value traded decreased by Rs2.02 billion to Rs6.73 billion. Overall market capitalisation decreased by Rs5.29 billion.
Among scrips, TRG topped the volumes with 14.62 million shares, followed by TREET (14.24 million) and WTL (13.62 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, TREET, WTL, HASCOL, and TPLP, which formed around 32 percent of total volumes.
The major sectors taking the index toward south were oil & gas exploration companies with 37 points, technology & communication with 33 points, commercial banks with 33 points, textile composite with 17 points and power generation & distribution with 15 points. The most points taken off the index were by SYS which stripped the index of 40 points followed by BAHL with 21 points, DAWH with 17 points, HBL with 17 points and UBL with 13 points.
The major sectors taking the index toward north were food & personal care products with 31 points, fertilizer with 28 points, engineering with 5 points, insurance with 4 points and cement with 3 points. The most points added to the index were by NESTLE which contributed 21 points followed by TRG with 16 points, FFC with 13 points, MEBL with 12 points and BAFL with 12 points.
According to experts, the capital market remained under selling pressure mainly due to the expectation of an interest rate hike of 100-125bps in the upcoming MPC meeting due on December 14. They said the negativity in the market can be attributed to an increase in National Saving Scheme interest rates in the range of 161bps to 240 bps.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the bears took over due to volatility in the rupee value and the expectations of higher interest rates in the upcoming key policy announcement on December 14.
He said, “[The] market opened negative but [the] Oil and Gas Development Company and [the] Pakistan Petroleum Limited managed to win the show, as investors’ participated in the stocks to avail big dividend on account of meaningful progress on [the] possibility of [the] resolution of gas circular debt in [the] coming days.”
