KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 26 points on Friday in a range bound trading activity during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 43,741 points as against 43,767 points showing a decline of 26 points (-0.1 percent DoD).
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded range bound today with an oscillation of around 300 points between +188 points and -128 points.
The index closed -26 points, however, it virtually touched 44,000 level intra-day. Investors were already perturbed about the coming short roll-over week, which has generally brought selling pressure, and also had to face a fresh threat as highlighted by FO press conference, relayed in the last hour of trading.
Investors, in general, resorted to profit booking rather than carrying positions over the weekend. Key stocks in Banks, E&P and O&GMCs helped the index stay afloat.
Last half hour saw brisk activity in Steel sector that improved the price performance of underlying stocks. Among scrips, PRL topped the volumes with 38 million shares, followed by FFL (31.4 million) and KEL (28.6 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include O&GMCs (+21 points), Autos (+14 points), Banks (+14 points), Fertilizer (-42 points) and Cement (-26 points).
Volumes declined from 497.5 million shares to 482.6 million shares (-3 percent DoD). Average traded value on the contrary increased by 5 percent to reach US$ 148.2 million as against US$ 140.8 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PRL, FFL, KEL, ICIBL and PAEL, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PSO (+28 points), THALL (+15 points), ANL (+14 points), HBL (+10 points) and NBP (+9 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-34 points), PPL (-11 points), HUBC (-10 points), KTML (-7 points) and KOHC (-7 points).
