KARACHI: Trade floors turned red on Friday as bears of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) once again held the reins of the market. Foreign investors offloaded stocks worth $8.24 million on Thursday.
According to latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), foreign exchange reserves held by central bank surged by 0.08pc on a weekly basis and now stand at $8.12 billion. Pakistan received second tranche of $1 billion from United Arab Emirates earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, Interloop Limited, said to be one of the largest exporters of socks in the world, was successful in raising Rs5.02 billion at the Pakistan Stock Exchange through Initial Public Offering, by selling 12.5pc of its shareholding to different investors at a price of Rs46.10 per share. The company is expected to be amongst top 50 listed companies by market capitalization. Shares of the company were oversubscribed by 1.37 times during the book building process.
The KSE 100 index benchmark touched its intraday low of 38,187.48 after shedding 621.13 points or 1.63pc. It ended lower by 501.66 points at 38,306.95. The KMI 30 index declined by 1,182.91 points or 1.85pc to close at 62,724.91, while the KSE All Share index depreciated by 263.39 points, settling at 28,174.00. Out of the total traded scripts, 61 advanced, 249 declined while the value of 14 remained unchanged.
The overall trading volumes were recorded at 129.47 million. The Bank of Punjab (BOP -3.48pc) led the volume chart with 38.57 million shares exchanging hands, followed by K-Electric Limited (KEL -3.90pc) and Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -3.95pc) with 17.03 million shares and 6.25 million shares swapping hands respectively.
The cement sector lost 3.40pc from its cumulative market capitalization despite a decline in global coal prices. D G Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC) was down by 4.75pc, Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK) by -4.19pc, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF) by -4.67pc and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL) by -2.05pc.
