Equity market falls by 208 points on imposing lockdown proposal

Equity market falls by 208 points on imposing lockdown proposal

KARACHI: The equity market witnessed a decline of 208 points on Monday after possibility of imposition of lockdown in the light of NCOC proposal, analysts said.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,978 points as against last Friday’s closing of 45,186 points showing a decline of 208 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that Market took toll from possibility of imposition of lock down in the light of NCOC proposal, although a firm decision is yet to be taken.

Selling pressure was evident across the board with the exception of few scrips, including TRG, GGL, MCB and FFC, which somewhat supported the index. Overall the index lost 428 points during the session and closed the session -208 points.

Refinery sector, which has lately coincided with technology stocks also went down following weak investor sentiment. Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 73.7 million shares followed by TRG (42.1 million) and GGL (38.8 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include O&GMCs (-36 points), Banks (-32 points), Pharma (-26 points), Chemical (-23 points) and Cement (-23 points).

Volumes declined from 688 million shares to 504 million shares (-27 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 21 percent to reach US$ 130.7 million as against US$ 165.9 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TRG, GGL, TELE and BYCO, which formed 42 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (+98 points), FFC (+24 points), MCB (+19 points), EFERT (+12 points) and LUCK (+6 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-44 points), PSO (-25 points), OGDC (-22 points), SEARL (-21 points) and UBL (-16 points).