KARACHI: The stock market witnessed heavy profit booking on Friday on reports of approval of privatization of two major energy companies.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 39,621 points as against 39,869 points showing a decline of 247 points (-0.6 percent DoD).
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market took heavy bantering today on the pretext of profit booking as well as news of approval of privatization of OGDC and PPL.
Both the E&P scrips saw significant selling pressure, besides Cement, O&GMCs, Pharma and Fertilizer sectors. Banking sector that bore selling pressure throughout the session saw recovery by the end, which helped KSE-100 index put recovery.
Technology sector led the volumes with 74.5 million shares, followed by Cement (64.9 million) and Power (31.8 million). Among scrips, WTL posted 23.9 million shares, followed by ANL (21.7 million) and TPL (9.4 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-89 points), Power (-45 points), Cement (-36 points), O&GMCs (-29 points) and Inv Banks (-13 points).
Volumes increased from 394.6 million shares to 400.5 million shares (+2 percent DoD). Average traded value, however, registered a decline of 3 percent DoD to reach US$ 81.6 million as against US$ 84.5 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, ANL, TPL, DCL and UNITY, which formed 25 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include NBP (+14 points), HBL (+12 points), ENGRO (+12 points), FCEPL (+10 points) and BAFL (+7 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-52 points), OGDC (-40 points), HUBC (-37 points), PSO (-23 points) and DAWH (-14 points).
