KARACHI: The equity market fell by 412 points on Thursday reversing the yesterday’s gain on profit taking activities.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 38,553 points as against 38,965 points showing a decline of 412 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market reversed major part of the gains made yesterday.
Yesterday’s activity was hinged on quarter-end closing, no change in interest rates, higher crude prices and expectation of large hydro-carbon discovery in Indus offshore.
Today’s reversal can very much can be attributed to a negative view on discovery, slight reduction in oil price and profit taking activity by institutional investors.
A wait-and-see approach from institutional investors also kept stock prices in check, rather added to selling pressure.
Similar to yesterday, UNITY’s right shares got the lion’s share in traded volume with 43 million shares as against a total of 132 million (33 percent).
Other than Vanaspati, Banks, Cement and Engineering sectors contributed to the volumes, mainly to the downside.
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-132 points), Cement (-79 points), Banks (-53 points), Fertilizer (-37 points), Insurance (-21 points).
Volumes reduced to 131.8mn shares as against 228.7 million shares yesterday (-42 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 29 percent to reach US$ 31.2 million as against US$ 43.9 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITYR1, BOP, STPL, WTL and PIBTL, which formed 47 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include BAHL (+12 points), MEBL (+11 points), MTL (+9 points), KAPCO (+8 points), and FATIMA (+7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-67 points), OGDC (-48 points), LUCK (-37 points), UBL (-30 points) and HBL (-22 points).
