KARACHI: The stock market fell by 223 points on Friday as investors were upset on further restrictions imposed by the government to prevent spread of coronavirus.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,707 points from previous day’s closing of 44,930 points, showing a decline of 223 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market declined further by 566 points during the session, again in anticipation of lock down at national level that caused investors to adopt cautious approach and avoid taking new positions. KAPCO announced financial results today, which had little impact on stock price due to non-declaration of dividend against market expectation.
O&GMCs, E&P, Cement and Steel sector stocks saw selling pressure induced by institutional investors. Among scrips, GGL topped the volumes with 38.7 million shares, followed by WTL (24.1 million) and TRG (23.6 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-54 points), Chemical (-40 points), Fertilizer (-38 points), Power (-32 points) and Textile (-28 points).
Volumes declined from 328.9 million shares to 240.5 million shares (-27 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 26 percent to reach US$ 76.6 million as against US$ 103.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include GGL, WTL, TRG, UNITY and BYCO, which formed 43 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (+49 points), HMB (+30 points), AICL (+15 points), NBP (+12 points) and PSX (+5 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (-31 points), COLG (-31 points), HUBC (-27 points), ENGRO (-16 points) and HBL (-12 points).
