KARACHI: The stock market witnessed decline of 581 points on Friday owing to heavy selling during the second half of trading day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,144 points as against 40,724 points showing a decline of 581 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that after opening on a positive note and gaining 145 points in the first session, the market saw heavy sell-off that aggravated in the second session losing 678 points during the session and closing -581 points.
Bond yields for 3Y and 5Y were also observed to be trading at higher yields that caused concern amongst investors due to higher inflation and delay in possible rate cut.
Selling activity was largely seen across the board amidst low volumes for better part of the day, but second session saw volumes picking up as prices declined steeply.
Cement sector led the volumes table with 43.3 million shares, followed by Chemical (28.1 million) and Banks (26 million). Among scrips, MLCF realized trading volumes of 21.5 million, followed by LOTCHEM (17.4 million) and UNITY (14.3 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-132 points), O&GMCs (-71 points), E&P (-65 points), Cement (-65 points) and Power (-42 points).
Volumes increased from 127.9 million shares to 193.5 million shares (+51 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 16 percent to reach US$ 44 million as against US$ 38 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, LOTCHEM, UNITY, HASCOL and BOP, which formed 38 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include EFUG (+9 points), FFC (+8 points), SCBPL (+4 points), BAHL (+3 points) and NATF (+2 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-43 points), PSO (-41 points), HUBC (-30 points), DAWH (-27 points), and BAFL (-25 points).
