Stocks end flat amid profit taking

Stocks end flat amid profit taking

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks ended flat on Friday amid profit taking seen on the last trading day of the week.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended at 45,078 points as against previous day’s closing of 45,083 points, showing a decrease of 5 points.

READ MORE: Pakistan stocks gain amid concerns over rising oil prices

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that range bound session was witnessed today due to the concerns over mounting international oil prices and rising Covid-19 cases.

Market opened on a positive note but soon after profit taking was witnessed across the board.

READ MORE: Stocks end up 67 points amid range bound trading

In the cement sector, LUCK closed in the red zone due to disappointing result as gross margin underwent a dip to 22.6 per cent during 2QFY22 (2QFY21: 29.2 per cent) amid higher coal prices, PKR depreciation and augmented packaging costs, coupled with volumetric decline.

Main board activity remained gloomy. On the flip-side, activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.

READ MORE: Stocks fall on rising COVID cases

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-38.8 points), E&P (-17.8 points), Chemical (-12.6 points), OMC’S (-11.24 points) and Automobile Assembler (-3.11 points).

Volumes increased from 173.6 million shares to 258.9 million shares (+49.2 per cent DoD). Traded value also increased by 23.7 per cent to reach US$ 46.0 million as against US$ 37.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TRG, HUMNL, UNITY, WTL and CNERGY.

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