Stock market ends down by 289 points amid narrow band trading

Stock market ends down by 289 points amid narrow band trading

KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 289 points on Monday as market traded in narrow band.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,186 points as against 34,476 points showing a decline of 289 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that index was traded in a narrow band for most part of the day but started taking shape (negative direction) by the end of session.

During the session, the market see-sawed between +222 points and -351 points.

Among the drivers that affected market activity today were the implementation of higher brokerage commission, which caused institutional and individual investors largely at bay, and ongoing meeting with FATF, where Pakistan is expected to avoid set back.

International crude prices also dipped during the session, which had negative impact on the E&P stocks and neutral to negative expectation on financial results of Refineries and OMCs kept selling pressure on such stocks.

Technology sector led the volumes table with 30.8 million shares, followed by Cement (17.7 million) and Chemical (17.1 million). Among scrips, WTL led the volumes with 14.3 million shares followed by TRG (11.6 million) and LOTCHEM (9.7 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-133 points), Cement (-52 points), Fertilizer (-30 points), Pharma (-21 points), Textile (-20 points) and E&P (+21 points).

Volumes fell from 287.1 million shares to 137.9 million shares (-52 percent DoD).

Average traded value also declined by 55 percent to reach US$ 30.8 million as against US$ 67.7 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, TRG, LOTCHEM, UNITY and FCCL, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include MARI (+23 points), DAWH (+18 points), OGDC (+16 points), HUBC (+8 points) and COLG (+6 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-42 points), LUCK (-40 points), MCB (-26 points), UBL (-19 points), and SEARL (-17 points).