Stock market ends down by 76 points on profit taking

Stock market ends down by 76 points on profit taking

KARACHI: The stock market fell by 76 points on Thursday owing to profit taking after the market witnessed massive recovery during past two days.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,455 points as against 40,531 points showing a decline of 76 points.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that the market opened on a positive note on the back of media reports that Pakistan and the IMF have concluded the staff level meeting in which they agreed on not having a mini-budget or reduction in the tax collection target. Alternatively, privatization proceeds are expected to fill the gap.

Index gained to make an intraday high of 256 points but lost momentum; trading sideways for most part of the day, with the index closing at 40,455 level (down 0.19 percent).

Traded volume increased by 9 percent on DoD basis to 197 million shares, whereas traded value decreased by 5 percent on DoD basis to Rs.7.1 billion. UNITY was today`s volume leader with 22.3 million shares.

DGKC announced its 2QFY20 result in which it posted EPS of Rs.1.14 on a consolidated basis. Earnings were considerably higher than expectation on account of higher than expected sales and margin for the quarter, as a result the scrip closed 4.5 percent up.

AKBL and FABL announced their 4Q2020 results in which they posted EPS of Rs.2.1 and Rs.1.06 on a consolidated basis respectively; AKBL also announced a final cash dividend of Rs.1.5/share.