KARACHI: The share market fell by 226 points on Wednesday owing to profit taking observed during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,677 points as against previous day’s closing of 45,903 points, showing a decline of 226 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market dipped further by 358 points during the session courtesy of redemption at mutual funds which prompted selling in Banks, E&P, Power, Cement and O&GMCs.
Investors preferred switching to Food, Chemical and Power sectors as safe haven. E&P stocks went contrary to the trend of international crude oil prices, which went up overnight.
Textile sector also saw selling pressure, partly due to yet another deferral of the most awaited textile policy. Among scrips, SILK topped the volumes with 42.6 million shares, followed UNITY (40.9 million) and HUMNL (38.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-62 points), Fertilizer (-47 points), Banks (-45 points), Cement (-30 points) and Technology (-30 points).
Volumes declined from 491.7 million shares to 476.6 million shares (-3 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 4 percent to US$ 119.2 million as against US$ 124.2 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include SILK, UNITY, HUMNL, POWER and TRG, which formed 36 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HBL (+34 points), UNITY (+22 points), MARI (+9 points), PAKT (+7 points) and APL (+6 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-34 points), HUBC (-32 points), ENGRO (-29 points), MCB (-24 points) and PPL (-22 points).
