Stocks shed 396 points as investors opt profit taking

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks ended down by 396 points on Friday as investors opted for profit taking on the last week day.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended at 40,450 points from previous day’s closing of 40,846 points, showing a decline of 396 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the PSX concluded the week with a mixed session.

The market opened in the red zone and traded in the same zone with sluggish activity throughout the first trading owing to the rupee dollar parity and political instability.

However, after the second session resumed the bears took charge the index plunged down 440.97 points as investors opted to square-up their positions due to the rollover week.

Volumes remained healthy as investors are optimist about the upcoming IMF teams visit for the 9th review of the Extended Fund Facility from the IMF Program.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-75.4 points), Technology & Communications (-75.3 points), Fertilizer (-73.7 points), Banks (-35.4 points), and Autos (-30.9 points).

Volumes decreased from 364.1 million shares to 191.3 million shares (-47.5 per cent DoD). The average traded value also decreased by 52.2 per cent to USD 27.1 million as against USD 56.7 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes are PRL, CNERGY, FFL, WTL and KEL.