KARACHI: The stock market fell by 196 points on Thursday owing to selling observed during the day. The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,863 points as against last day’s closing of 45,059 points, showing a decline of 196 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market declined further today with a drop of 278 points during the session and ended the session -196 points.
Selling was evident across the board, but had the most impact on Cement, Fertilizer, Steel sectors. Financial results have failed to generate the usual interest among investors perhaps due to the upcoming tight budget right after Ramadan and a long hibernating period till the next financial results will be announced.
International crude oil prices were on the rise overnight, however, E&P stocks did not react to it. Among scrips, HASCOL led the table with 43.8 million shares, followed by GGL (32.6 million) and TELE (19.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-58 points), Cement (-56 points), Fertilizer (-33 points), Power (-28 points) and Tobaco (-13 points).
Volumes declined from 305.7 million shares to 280.7 million shares (-8 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 16 percent to reach US$ 88.6 million as against US$ 105 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, GGL, TELE, TRG and GGGL, which formed 45 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include HASCOL (+10 points), KTML (+10 points) and ICI (+8 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include FFC (-26 points), SNGP (-26 points), MCB (-14 points) and POML (-13 points).
