KARACHI: The stock market fell by 226 points on Wednesday as the market witnessed profit booking across the board ahead of Eid holidays.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 33,933 points as against 34,159 points showing a decline of 226 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market saw profit booking across the board in the run-up to Eid holidays and the long weekend.
Though international crude oil prices remained high overnight and since yesterday, local investors little heed to that, given the long gap from Friday till next week on Thursday, which can cause the underlying prices to move in any direction.
E&P, OMCs and Refineries, which showed price gains yesterday booked profits today, whereas Cement sector saw renewed interest from investors.
Post market closure yesterday, Moody’s notification for considering Pakistani banks for rating downgrade caused stir among local investors, resulting in negative price performance for the banking sector.
Pharmaceutical sector also realized attrition with FEROZ hitting lower circuit and SEARL posting price loss.
Technology sector topped the index with 28.2 million shares, followed by Cement (25.1 million) and O&GMCs (20.6 million).
Among scrips, HUMNL realized 11.7 million shares, followed by HASCOL (11.3 million) and TRG (9.5 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-73 points), Fertilizer (-65 points), Banks (-42 points), Pharma (-29 points), Inv Banks (-21 points), Autos (+21 points).
Volumes declined from 2478 million shares to 165.1 million shares (-33 percent DoD). Average traded value followed suit with a decline of 35 percent reaching US$ 42.7 million as against US$ 65.3 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HUMNL, HASCOL, TRG, UNITY and MLCF, which formed 30 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include PSEL (+18 points), PAKT (+11 points), EFUG (+9 points), HCAR (+8 points) and ICI (+8 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include ENGRO (-28 points), FFC (-28 points), PPL (-27 points), DAWH (-22 points), and HBL (-18 points).
