KARACHI: The equity market fell by 158 points on Friday owing to profit taking on the last trading day of the week.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 42,323 points as against 42,481 points showing a decline of 158 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today with +334 points and 3.34 million volume traded. Oil chain reacted to the jump in international oil prices which went up on the news of US attack on Iranian military commander.
POL reacted the most to hike in oil prices. Similarly, among OMCs, PSO made a rapid ascent.
Majority of the stocks remained red by the end of session due to profit booking and concerns over regional security.
Among Banks, HBL and UBL remained under pressure. Technology sector led the volumes table with 43 million shares, followed by Banks (34.5 million) and Cement (33.2 million).
Among scrips, TRG topped the chart with 23.7 million shares, followed by UNITY (20.8M) and KEL (20.2 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (+63 points), Fertilizer (-87 points), Banks (-77 points), Pharma (-18 points), Autos (-12 points).
Volumes declined over the day from 412.3 million shares to 322.9 million shares (-22 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 14 percent to reach US$ 94.8 million as against US$ 110.1 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, UNITY, KEL, PAEL and FFL, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include POL (+34 points), OGDC (+33 points), MCB (+24 points), HUBC (+18 points) and BAHL (+16 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-78 points), ENGRO (-74 points), UBL (-29 points), SEARL (-10 points), and MARI (-10 points).
