KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 65 points on Wednesday in mixed trading sessions during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 42,561 points as against 42,626 points showing a decline of 65 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market had an interesting session today, which saw OGDC going lower circuit and then bouncing back strongly to close at day’s rate and above market average.
Similar activity was observed in PPL, which although didn’t touch lower circuit, but faced likewise selling pressure.
The news that concerned investors was likely selection of Financial Advisors for divestment of OGDC’s shares amidst expectation that Shares will be offered at a discount to market price. By the end of session, Secretary Privatization Commission, Rizwan Malik clarified that Govt. intends to divest shares at Premium that caused stock price to go up further in MoC.
Capital from selling of E&P stocks apparently moved to Cement sector that also caused a spike in Cement sector stocks, especially LUCK that went close to upper circuit. E&P sector led the volumes with 23.6M shares, followed by Technology (19.5M) and Cement (19.2M). Among scrips, OGDC topped with 19.2M shares, followed by MLCF (9M) and UNITY (8.5M).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+58 points), Fertilizer (+33 points), Banks (+11 points), E&P (-71 points), O&GMCs (-36 points), Tobacco (-22 points), Inv Banks (-18 points).
Volumes maintained the level at 178.0mn shares (+0 percent DoD). Average traded value increased by 36 percent to reach US$ 60.1mn as against US$ 44.1mn.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include OGDC, MLCF, UNITY, TRG and MERIT, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include LUCK (+42 points), FFC (+20 points), ENGRO (+18 points), MCB (+17 points) and UBL (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-71 points), PAKT (-22 points), DAWH (-17 points), PSO (-12 points), and POL (-12 points).
