Stock market witnesses range bound activity; sheds 30 points

Stock market witnesses range bound activity; sheds 30 points

KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 30 points on Wednesday in a range bound trading during the day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,154 points as against 40,184 points showing a decline of 30 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded range bound today between -119 points and +241 points.

E&P largely added points on the index, whereas Cement and Banking sector stocks faced selling pressure. Fertilizer Sector remained under pressure throughout the session, but ENGRO’s financial results with a dividend of Rs. 8/share, helped Fertilizer sector stage recovery by the end of session.

Cement sector posted volumes of 75.4 million shares, followed by Technology (54.5 million) and O&GMCs (40.3 million). Among scrips, PIBTL topped the volumes with 35.5 million shares, followed by PRL (27.5 million) and DGKC (26.8 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Fertilizer (+63 points), E&P (+40 points), O&GMCs (+10 points), Cement (-25 points), Technology (-23 points), Autos (-21 points), Power (-20 points) and Banks (-20 points).

Volumes declined from 458.8 million shares to 427.2 million shares (-7 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 10 percent to reach US$ 110.4 million as against US$ 123.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PIBTL, TRG, POWERR1, PRL and POWER, which formed 25 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include ENGRO (+40 points), POL (+18 points), EFERT (+14 points), OGDC (+10 points) and FFC (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-23 points), HUBC (-21 points), INDU (-10 points), DGKC (-10 points) and SHFA (-8 points).