KARACHI: The stock market ended down on Wednesday amid dull trading activities during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 34,034 points as against 34,052 points showing a decline of 18 points.
Market traded in a narrow range between +108 points and -115 points, closing the session -18 points. Activity remained dull throughout the session, primarily due to absence of a strong trigger ahead.
During the session, news of trade surplus added a bit of excitement but selling pressure kept the prices in check. International crude oil prices also saw attrition during trading hours, which brought E&P stocks below yesterday’s closing prices.
Fertilizer stocks performed well, among which DAWH hit upper circuit, whereas buying interest was also observed in ENGRO.
Technology sector topped the volumes with 34.9 million shares, followed by Food (16.7 million) and Refinery (14.4 million). Among scrips, TRG realized 16.4 million shares, followed by UNITY (12.6 million) and PRLR (11.8 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-44 points), Banks (-33 points), Power (-20 points), Cement (-13 points) and Pharma (-12 points).
Volumes increased from 160.6 million shares to 195.7 million shares (+19 percent DoD). Average traded value increased by merely 1 percent to reach US$ 34.6 million as against US$ 33.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, UNITY, PRLR1, TPL and ASC, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include DAWH (+62 points), NESTLE (+40 points), ENGRO (+27 points), APL (+10 points) and EFERT (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-20 points), HUBC (-18 points), HBL (-16 points), OGDC (-13 points), and PAKT (-9 points).
