KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bearish in a low-volume session amid profit-taking activity on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 200.29 points (-0.46 percent) to close at 43,653.33 points.
The PSX opened on a positive note and remained volatile throughout the first half of the session. However, the heavy selling in the second half kept the indices in the red territory till the end of the session. The benchmark index gained around 1,000 points in the last two sessions, which prompted some profit-taking activity.
News about record-high workers’ remittances of $20.1 billion in the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2021-22 was welcomed by investors; however, they avoided taking new positions amid uncertainties on local political front as well as Russia-Ukraine war. A slight recovery of 12 paisas by the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar during the day also gave a boost to investors’ confidence.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 370.11 points, showing an intraday high of 43,966.27 points and a low of 43,596.16 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 136.66 points (-0.45 percent) to close at 29,972.8 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 169.6 points (-0.78 percent) to close at 21,704.84 points.
A total of 348 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 117 closed up, shares of 213 closed down while shares of 18 companies remained unchanged. Out of 91 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 32 closed up and 57 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 122.61 million to 149.30 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 21.06 million to 61.85 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 23,621 to 84,337, while the value traded increased by Rs2.23 billion to Rs5.27 billion. Overall, market capitalisation decreased by Rs36.45 billion.
Among scrips, TPLP topped the volumes with 12.27 million shares, followed by PAELR3 (11.91 million) and TPL (9.4 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TPLP, PAELR3, TPL, UNITY and FlyingR1, which formed over 33 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, PMPK remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs49.9 (7.39 percent) per share, closing at Rs724.9. The runner-up was SYS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs38.09 (5.64 percent) to Rs713.03. SFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs62.99 (7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs777.01, followed by BTL, the share price of which declined by Rs34.99 (7.37 percent) to close at Rs440.01 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were commercial banks (43 points), oil & gas exploration companies (42 points), cement (40 points), power generation & distribution (30 points) and oil & gas marketing companies (20 points). The most points taken off the index were by MEBL which stripped the index of 47 points followed by LUCK (42 points), HUBC (29 points), and PPL and TRG (20 points each).
The sectors taking the index towards north were technology & communication (47 points), automobile assembler (12 points), automobile parts & accessories (2 points) and miscellaneous (one point). The most points added to the index were by SYS which contributed 77 points followed by UBL (10 points), MCB (8 points), and INDU and MTL (7 points each).
