Stock market sheds 103 points in range bound activity

Stock market sheds 103 points in range bound activity

KARACHI: The stock exchange fell by 103 points on Thursday in range-bound trading activities during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 45,989 points as against the previous day’s close of 46,092 points showing a decline of 103 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market saw profit booking today after testing 46k level a number of times during the week.

The index oscillated between -239 points and +181 points during the session and closed -103 points.

Selling activity was observed in Banks, Cement, E&P sectors, which was caused by a host of reasons including a slight decline in international crude oil prices.

Among fertilizer sector stocks, FFBL performed well on the back of subsidy on DAP, being announced and taken into effect.

Delay in issuance of the textile policy, which was earlier scheduled to be announced yesterday is now postponed for tomorrow. Among scrips, HUMNL topped the volumes with 57.5 million shares, followed by KEL (45.6 million) and FFBL (25.8 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include E& (-70 points), Cement (-31 points), Fertilizer (-17 points), Pharma (-14 points) and Technology (-20 points).

Volumes declined from 845.2 million shares to 620.7 million shares (-27 percent DoD). The average traded value also declined by 26 percent to reach US$ 123.7 million as against US$ 167.7 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, KEL, FFBL, KAPCO and KOSM, which formed 28 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include KAPCO (+23 points), SYS (+20 points), COLG (+15 points), GHGL (+13 points) and PAKT (+13 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-34 points), ENGRO (-18 points), HUBC (-17 points), PPL (-16 points) and POL (-14 points).