KARACHI: The stock market was remained under pressure during the course of the day as concerns over coronavirus in neighboring country Iran continued to weigh down on investor sentiment.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 38,858 points as against 39,144 points showing a decline of 285 points.
Analysts at Topline Securities said that KSE 100 index remained under pressure during the course of the day as concerns over coronavirus in neighboring country Iran continued to weigh down on investor sentiment.
Result announcement of main board companies that clocked in lower than the street consensus didn`t offer any respite to the market.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened 105 points down but quickly went green with 104 points for a short while, only falling back in to red zone for the rest of the session.
During the session, index lost 451 points and closed the session -285 points. E&P, Banks, and OMCs largely faced selling pressure, whereas Cement and Steel sectors showed price gains.
PPL announced financial results today and failed to impress the investors that resulted in further selling in the stock. Cement sector led the table with 17.7 million shares, followed by Banks (17.6 million) and Technology (12.4 million).
Among scrips, UNITY topped the chart with 10 million shares, followed by BOP (9.2 million) and HASCOL (8.6 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-116 points), E&P (-81 points), Fertilizer (-47 points), Tobacco (-34 points), Power (-28 points) and Cement (+25 points).
Volumes declined from 144.2 million shares to 124.3 million shares (-14 percent DoD). Average traded value however, increased from US$ 35.7 million to US$ 386 million (+8 percent DoD).
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, BOP, HASCOL, KEL and MLCF, which formed 33 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include MEBL (+20 points), NBP (+13 points), EFERT (+12 points), KOHC (+7 points) and MARI (+7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include UBL (-54 points), PPL (-52 points), ENGRO (-49 points), HBL (-42 points), and MCB (-36 points).
