Stocks witness bearish trend on rising political noise

Stocks witness bearish trend on rising political noise

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks on Wednesday witnessed bearish trend during the day due to rise in political noise in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended at 42,012 points from previous day’s closing of 41,950 points, showing an increase of 62 points.

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Analysts at Topline Securities said Pakistan equities witnessed a bearish trend today on the backdrop of increasing political noise as PTI began Long March today led by former Prime Minister.

Investors opted to stay cautious as uncertainty shattered investors’ confidence while deterioration continues on the Pakistan Rupee (PKR) front where it made an all-time new low of 201.92 against the Greenback.

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Initially, market opened on a negative note and made an intra-day low at 41,356 (-594 points; down 1.42%). However, value hunting kicked in at the aforesaid level which assisted benchmark to show some recovery and eventually settled at 42,013 (+62 points; down 0.15%) for the day.

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Fertilizer and E&P sector’s stocks contributed negatively today to the benchmark index where EFERT, FFC, OGDC, PPL & ENGRO lost 157 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, TRG, SYS & POL have seen some buying interest as they added 54 points collectively today.

Around 239 million shares traded today at the bourse while total value clocked in at Rs7.5 billion. PRL was the volume leader of the day with trading of 21.2 million shares in it, today.

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