KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned bearish amid profit-taking activity on Wednesday following two successive bullish sessions, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 341.09 points (-0.82 percent) to close at 41,330.56 points.
The market opened on a sharp positive note and hit the day-high during the first hour trading. However, the profit taking activity started as soon as the benchmark index crossed 41,850 points. The benchmark index gained over 700 points during sessions on Monday and Tuesday, and profit-taking was expected. Moreover, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was at Islamabad High Court for extension in bail in multiple cases and the investors preferred to book profit, keeping the political and economic uncertainties of the country in mind.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 587.2 points, showing an intraday high of 41,852.23 points and a low of 41,265.03 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 204.72 points (-0.74 percent) to close at 27,703.23 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 209.73 points (-1.04 percent) to close at 20,080.20 points.
The overall market volumes decreased by 39.58 million to 158.1 million shares against 197.68 million shares a session earlier. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 90.8 million against 104.07 million a session earlier, showing a decrease of 13.27 million shares.
Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 20.72 million shares, followed by MLCF (8.73 million) and FCCL (6.48 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, MLCF, FCCL, TRG and CNERGY, which formed around 30 percent of total volumes.
A total of 329 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 340 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 86 closed up, shares of 222 closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. A total of 92 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 95 a session earlier, out of which shares of 20 companies closed up, 69 closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 1,228 to 89,547 against 88,319 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.35 billion to Rs6.11 billion.
In terms of rupee, BHAT remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs44.12 (+3.82 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,200. The runner-up remained KHYT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs40.61 (+7.41 percent) to Rs588.5. UPFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs901 (-3.85 percent) per share, closing at Rs22,499, followed by COLG, the share price of which fell by Rs38.61 (-2.5 percent) to close at Rs1506.61 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were real technology & communication (87 points), cement (68 points), oil & gas exploration companies (52 points), chemical (36 points) and fertilizer (19 points). The companies which deprived the index of most of the points included LUCK (65 points), SYS (60 points), FFC (33 points), TRG (20 points), and OGDC (17 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (14 points), tobacco (7 points), paper & board (5 points), sugar & allied industries (4 points), and synthetic & rayon (2 points). The major companies adding points to the index were UBL (23 points), DAWH (16 points), MCB (12 points), EFERT (9 points), and PIOC (8 points).
