KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Monday lost mammoth 781.09 points or 1.90 per cent to drop to 40324.32 level as political turmoil continued in the country.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 41420.05 points and lowest level of 40903.70 points, with the volume of 98.711 million shares and value of Rs6.31 billion. As many as 358 companies were active; of which 78 advanced, 261 declined and 19 remained unchanged.
Nishat (Chun.) was the volume leader with 6.88 million shares, shedding Rs2.70 to reach Rs51.46. It was followed by Sui North Gas with 6.20 million shares, losing Rs4.49 to end at Rs120 and Pak Elektron with 5.34 million shares, dropping Rs3.09 to close at Rs61.17.
The top three gainers were Colgate Palmolive with price per share of 2320 (110), Khyber Tobacco with price per share of 1709.99 (73.99) and Bhanero Tex of 745.47 (35.48).
The top three losers were Nestle Pakistan with price per share of 11899.50 (-198.10), Wyeth Pak Ltd with price per share of 1759.22 (-85.78) and Service Ind. Ltd share of 935.75 (-49.25).
Earlier, the stocks opened bearish and lost 41,000 level after shedding 269 points to reach 40837 points level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange remained bearish till midday as the benchmark 100-index shed huge 520 points to drop to 40586 points level.
Last week, the investor sentiment readings continued to worsen as KSE-100 index plummeted again to close at 41,105 points (down 2.3 percent WoW). As a result, liquidity dried up as average traded volume and value declined by 27 percent WoW (134m vis-a-vis 185m in the last week) and 24 percent WoW ($66m recorded during the week). As for flows, mutual funds remained the major net sellers of $11 million worth of equities during the week whereas individuals jumped to the other side to buy at bargain prices. Almost all major sectors such as cements (down 4 percent WoW on uncertain pricing scenario), oil & gas exploration companies (down 3 percent WoW), banks (down 3 percent WoW) etc witnessed a decline.
Stocks including ENGRO (-6 percent WoW), PAEL (-18 percent WoW), OGDC (-3 percent WoW), HBL (-2 percent WoW) and DGKC (-8 percent), eroded 373 points from the index. On the other hand, DAWH (+5 percent WoW), PAKT (+7 percent WoW), FFC (+2 percent WoW), POL (+1 percent WoW) and SNGPL (+2 percent WoW) added 126 points to the index.
Amongst major sectors, tobacco and pharmaceutical sectors surged by 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively. In contrast, refinery, cement & commercial banks were down 6 percent, 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively. During the outgoing week Mutual Funds sold $11.3 million worth of equities while individuals bought $16.3 million worth of stocks. Foreigners were net sellers of $5.3 million during the week vs net selling of $7.4 million during last week. Foreigners sold $3.8 million and $2.0 million worth of stocks in fertiliser and E&P sectors respectively whereas $1.8 million and $1.4 million of shares were bought in cement and banking sectors.
