Market watch
Benchmark index decreases 81.04 points to close at 45,230.18
TLTP
KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained range-bound due to lack of triggers on Thursday and the benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 81.04 points (-0.18 percent) to close at 45,230. 18 points. The market opened on a positive note, however, it lost the impetus amid profit-taking by the investors due to law and order situation and surging Covid-19 cases in the country.
The KSE-100 Index traded in a range of 272.6 points, showing an intraday high of 45,447.4 and a low of 45,174.8. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 24.66 points (-0.08 percent) to close at 30,683.1 points, while All Share Islamic Index shed 43.35 points (-0.2 percent) to close at 22,080.11 points.
A total of 374 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 134 closed up, shares of 218 closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes increased by 5.78 million to 347.67 million shares, while market capitalisation decreased by Rs18.42 billion. The number of total trades decreased by 10,359 to 109,779, and value traded decreased by Rs3.84 billion to Rs12.60 billion.
Among scrips, TELE remained the volume leader with 73.58 million, followed by WTL (64.88 million) and HUMNL (17.37 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TELE, WTL, HUMNL, GGL and TRG, which formed 51.78 percent of total volumes.
Sector wise, the index was let down by cement with 35 points, commercial banks with 32 points, technology & communication with 18 points, power generation & distribution with 10 points and automobile parts & accessories with 6 points. The most points taken off the index was by TRG which stripped the index of 17 points followed by LUCK with 17 points, BAHL with 14 points, HBL with 14 points and JLICL with 8 points.
The sectors propping up the index were fertilizer with 21 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 13 points, tobacco with 7 points, oil & gas marketing companies with 4 points and chemical with 3 points. The most points added to the index was by OGDC which contributed 16 points followed by FFC with 13 points, ENGRO with 8 points, PAKT with 7 points and CHCC with 7 points.
Analysts at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities closed slightly negative with benchmark KSE-100 Index settling at 45,230 level. Range bound activity was witnessed throughout the day where the KSE-100 Index moved between intraday high and low of 136 and 137 points respectively. Investor interest was mainly witnessed in blue chips stocks.
They said that OGDC, FFC and ENGRO were the major gainers in Thursday’s trading session. Investors opted to tread with caution amid the ongoing rise in Covid-19 cases and upcoming result season. They said that activity in the wider market was relatively dull as Rs12.58 billion worth of shares exchanged hands, down 24 percent on DoD basis.
