KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 64 points on Tuesday while traded in narrow band.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,798 points as against 33,862 points showing a decline of 64 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded in a narrow band of -146 points and +155 points, testing 34,000 level again but closed below this level -64 points.
Cement and Steel sectors that have been in the limelight lately braced selling pressure.
Though earlier in the session, cement sector blue chips hit upper circuit but later profit booking brought stock prices down.
Other than steel and cement, E&P and O&GMCs also faced selling activity mainly due to expectation of poor results of O&GMCs and otherwise lower international crude oil prices.
Technology sector led the volumes with 43.6 million shares, followed by Cement (36.1 million) and Banks (31.5 million).
Among scrips, WTL registered trading volume of 37.5 million shares, followed by BOP (22.5 million) and PIBTL (10.6 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-24 points), Fertilizer (-16 points), O&GMCs (-13 points), Insurance (-12 points) and Chemical (-11 points).
Volumes increased significantly from 135.6 million shares to 224.8 million shares (+66 percent DoD. Average traded value also increased by 32 percent DoD to reach US$ 34.8 million as against US$ 26.3 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, BOP, PIBTL, FCCL and MLCF, which formed 39 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include PSEL (+23 points), BOP (+12 points), SEARL (+10 points), FFBL (+7 points) and GLAXO (+6 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-13 points), ENGRO (-13 points), LUCK (-13 points), COLG (-11 points), and BAHL (-11 points).
