KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday closed negative as the benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 375 points to drop to 42,920.
The benchmark index showed some positive activity in the first few minutes of the trading session and touched a day’s high of 43,623 points. The benchmark, however, could not sustain the positive momentum and adopted a bearish trend for the rest of the session. It touched a day’s low of 42,834 points near the end of the session.
In all, 188 million shares worth Rs8.5 billion changed hands during the session. Of the 349 traded scrips, 154 advanced, 177 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
Overall, the cement sector dominated trading with 19.7m shares traded, while the chemicals, food and personal care products sectors followed with 18.9m and 18.7m shares changing hands.
Yesterday, the stocks closed lower on second consecutive day as the KSE 100-index succumbed to pressure due to political qualm. Bourse slipped down to finally close at 43,295 points, down 278 points.
Top heavyweights of the bourse HBL (down 2.15%), OGDC (0.19%), UBL (0.80%), MCB (1.21%), ENGRO (0.55%) and HUBC (2.16%) cumulatively detracted 154 points from the index.
EPCL (up 1.52%) in the chemicals closed positive as the directorate general customs valuation (DGCV) has revised the customs values of UPVC, CPVC, PPRC pipes and pipe fittings under section 25 (9) of the Customs Act, 1969. In the E&P sector, PPL (up 0.14%) and POL (0.34%) closed positive as the international oil prices edged up. However, OGDC (down 0.19%) came under pressure as the earnings clocked in at Rs8.53/share, with a payout of Rs3/share.
Volumes increased to some extent from 125m shares to 169m shares (+35% DoD). Average traded value also increased from $46.2m to $70.2m (+52% DoD). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included DCL, TRG, ANL, FFL and DFML, reflecting 31% of total volumes. Scripts that contributed positively included LUCK that added 10 points, TRG 9 points, NATF 7 points, PAKT 6 points and IGIIL that added 6 points respectively.
