KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell by 510 points on Thursday. The index fell owing to profit booking during the day.
The index closed at 46,903 points as against the previous day’s closing of 47,413 points, showing a decline of 510 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market saw a draw-down of 539 points during the session, which came in the backdrop of depreciating rupee, rising costs of commodities (particularly coal for Cement) and redemption calls at mutual funds end.
The cement sector saw significant selling pressure followed by Banks and Technology stocks due to cost pressures and limited flexibility to pass on the costs.
Weak investor sentiment as evident from longer than anticipated consolidation of the KSE-100 benchmark made even the depreciating rupee a negative factor for Technology, Textile, and E&P stocks, which would otherwise benefit.
Among scrips, GGL topped the volumes with 57.9 million shares, followed by WTL (53.3 million) and ANL (42.1 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-138 points), Cement (-125 points), Fertilizer (-43 points), E&P (-38 points) and Technology (-32 points).
Volumes increased from 536.6 million shares to 544.4 million shares (+1 percent DoD). The average traded value also increased by 12 percent to reach US$ 96.2 million as against US$ 8.1 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include GGL, WTL, ANL, SERFR, and TELE, which formed 41 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include NRL (+8 points), PSX (+7 points), ATRL (+7 points), BYCO (+6 points), and MARI (+4 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include UBL (-41 points), HBL (-40 points), LUCK (-36 points), MCB (-30 points) and CHCC (-25 points).
