KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned to profit-taking activity on Thursday after rallying for three straight days, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 256.22 points (-0.56 percent) to close at 45,862.93 points.
The market opened on a positive note and maintained this trend for the first hour of the session due to revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme for the $6 billion extended fund facility (EFF). However, profit-taking stole the show as the index gained over 1,000 points during the last three sessions, which dragged the market down to close in red. There was a significant selling pressure as the investors took positions on attractive valuations.
Moreover, the increase in Pakistan’s trade deficit by 91.97 percent to $28.8 billion in seven months (July to January) of the ongoing financial year, also put some pressure on the market. The country’s trade imbalance was recorded at $28.8 billion in July to January period of the year 2021-22 as compared to $15 billion in corresponding period of the previous year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 569.6 points, showing an intraday high of 46,387.64 points and a low of 45,818.04 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 85.81 points (-0.27 percent) to close at 31,386.83 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 91.38 points (-0.4 percent) to close at 22,642.35 points.
A total of 389 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 139 closed up, shares of 220 closed down while shares of 30 companies remained unchanged. Out of 96 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 27 closed up, 63 closed down and six remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 32.80 million to 328.01 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 2.15 million to 125.66 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 3,874 to 135,329, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.43 billion to Rs10.51 billion. Overall, market capitalisation decreased by Rs21.44 billion.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 32.82 million shares, followed by TELE (20.3 million) and GGL (16.8 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, TELE, GGL, HUMNL and TREET, which formed over 30 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, BATA remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs50 per share, closing at Rs2,050 whereas the runner-up was SFL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs47.33 to Rs881.45. PSEL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs131.84 per share, closing at Rs1,626.06, followed by SIEM, the share price of which declined by Rs33.88 to close at Rs605.07 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were miscellaneous with 66 points, cement (52 points), commercial banks (48 points), oil & gas exploration companies (40 points) and power generation & distribution (18 points). The most points taken off the index were by PSEL which stripped the index of 68 points followed by LUCK (21 points), HBL (21 points), OGDC (20 points) and FFC (15 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were textile composite with 12 points, insurance (10 points), tobacco (9 points), automobile assembler (8 points) and technology & communication (2 points). The most points added to the index were by ILP which contributed 9 points followed by PAKT (9 points), DAWH (8 points), and EFERT and SHEL (8 points each).
