KARACHI: The stock market witnessed selling pressure in major scrips on Thursday and fell by 286 points.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 39,869 points as against 40,154 points showing a decline of 286 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today with +29 points, however, couldn’t carry the momentum showed in the previous sessions.
Selling activity was observed in Fertilizer, Cement, Refinery and O&GMCs and intensified by the end of session, especially after announcement of MCB’s and FABL’s financial results.
FABL hit lower circuit after the announcement. Similarly, MCB lost ground after announcement, however, traded above lower circuit. Regional markets already showed bearish activity at the beginning of the session.
Yesterday’s PIB auction also saw rise in shorter term tenors. Technology sector topped the volumes with 84.5 million shares, followed by Power (40.2 million) and Banks (36.7 million). Among scrips, TRG posted 30.4 million shares, followed by PTC (21 million) and UNITY (20 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-81 points), Banks (-39 points), O&GMCs (-26 points), E&P (-24 points) and Power (-23 points).
Volumes declined from 427.2 million shares to 394.3 million shares (-8 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 24 percent to reach US$ 84.4 million as against US$ 110.4 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, PTC, UNITY, TPL and KAPCO, which formed 28 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HBL (+19 points), ABL (+17 points), TRG (+14 points), KAPCO (+13 points) and FFC (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (-68 points), HUBC (-31 points), LUCK (-29 points), ENGRO (-25 points) and PPL (-16 points).
