KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange continued to end on negative note as earlier the benchmark KSE-100 index dipped 550 points in intra-day trading on Monday and closed its fifth successive session in the red.
The index started falling from the moment trading began as investors turned focus to latest developments in relations between the US and Pakistan after Washington suspended $300 million worth of aid for Islamabad.
The impending visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and absence of any positive triggers also contributed to the bearish sentiment.
Despite a lack of concrete measures from the government to put the economy on a sound footing, late trading helped the index make some recovery.
According to Topline Securities, K-Electric had the largest impact on the market, adding 14 points to the index after news the new government was going to review the deal between the Abraaj Group and Shanghai Electric Power for acquisition of 66% stake in the private power utility.
Resultantly, the stock emerged as the market leader with trading in 16.7 million shares.
At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 160.28 points or 0.38% to settle at 41,581.96. Attock Refinery (-4%) traded at its lower circuit during the day.
Overall, trading volumes decreased slightly to 159.2 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 159.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.2 billion.
Shares of 366 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 94 stocks closed higher, 253 declined while 19 remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 16.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.24 to close at Rs5.55. It was followed by Agritech Limited with 14.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.71 to close at Rs8.21 and WorldCall Telecom with 8 million shares, losing Rs0.11 to close at Rs2.
