KARACHI: The equity market fell by 160 points on Thursday owing to selling pressure was seen during the day. The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,724 points as against 40,884 points showing a decline of 160 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note and went up by 278 points during the session, which was mainly contributed by Oil and Gas sector scrips, E&P and OMCs.
International crude prices prompted investors to build positions in oil and gas chain, however, selling pressure brought prices down and index moved downwards by 200 points.
Chemical sector, on the other hand, performed well on the bourse, with LOTCHEM hitting upper circuit earlier in the session (on the back of better product margins) and maintained that position throughout.
Similarly, EPCL, DOL and other chemical sector stocks gained traction from renewed interest by investors. Chemical sector led the volumes table with 18.5 million shares followed by Banks (17.8 million) and Cement (17 million).
Among scrips, HASCOL led the volumes with 11.2 million, followed by LOTCHEM (8.9 million) and BOP (8.3 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Power (-65 points), E&P (-42 points), O&GMCs (-40 points) and Inv Banks (-13 points) and Cement (-6 points).
Volumes declined from 146.2 million shares to 127.8 million shares (-13 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 4 percent to reach US$ 38.0 million as against US$ 39.6 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, LOTCHEM, BOP, UNITY and MLCF, which formed 32 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+43 points), BAFL (+16 points), POL (+14 points), PAKT (+11 points) and SYS (+11 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-61 points), MCB (-38 points), OGDC (-30 points), PPL (-24 points), and PSO (-22 points).
