Stock market ends down by 479 points on selling pressure

Stock market ends down by 479 points on selling pressure

KARACHI: The stock market shed 479 points on Thursday owing to selling in major scrips.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index of Pakistan Stock Exchange closed at 30,159 points as against 30,638 points showing a decline of 479 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that quite an eventful day it was, from divestment of GOP’s stakes in OGDC and PPL to resolution of GIDC issue for Fertilizer Sector and HASCOL’s result announcement.

Re-iteration of GOP’s intent to divest shares of OGDC (7 percent) and PPL (10 percent) with a host of other transactions in Bank and Power sector, caused selling pressure in both OGDC and PPL, which by the end of session resulted in PPL hitting lower circuit, whereas OGDC also saw activity near lower circuit.

For good part of the session, the index saw oscillation of +171 points and -250 points, including the episode of resolution of GIDC issue that is considered mainly positive for the Fertilizer Sector.

Resultantly, FFC and FFBL hit upper circuits but saw selling pressure at Market on Close (MOC). HASCOL also announced results that caused investors to sell at lower circuit.

Selling pressure mounted by the end of session, which resulted in market realizing a total loss of 527 points with the index closing at -497 points (unadjusted).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-156 points), Banks (-132 points), Cement (-59 points), O&GMCs (-41 points), Power (-38 points), Fertilizer (+73 points).

Volumes declined from 149 million shares to 118.4 million shares to. Average traded value also declined by 19 percent to reach US$ 27.8 million as against US$ 34.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include LOTCHEM, KEL, WTL, PAEL and OGDC, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include FFC (+67 points), EFERT (+13 points), DAWH (+12 points), FFBL (+6 points) and FATIMA (+4 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-70 points), PPL (-65 points), HBL (-40 points), UBL (-27 points) and LUCK (-26 points).

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