KARACHI: Bulls of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) seemed exhausted on Tuesday, as the indices, which opened on a positive note, failed to sustain gains amid profit-taking. Foreign investors remained net buyers of $1.64 million in the previous session.
On the political front, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued orders to freeze assets owned by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and his sons Hamza and Salman Shehbaz in different cities, including Lahore, Chiniot, Haripur and Abbottabad, citing corruption offences.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to simplify its system for payment of refunds so that exporters, especially small and medium-sized ones, do not face any difficulty in recovering dues.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,444.05 after gaining 319.83 points during the initial trading hours. It then changed its direction and recorded its intraday low at 39,725.70 after losing 398.52 points. The index settled lower by 335.49 points at 39,788.73. The KMI-30 Index declined by 629.16 points or 1.01pc to close at 62,598.09, while the KSE All Share Index fell short by 152.72 points, ending at 28,118.73.
The overall trading volumes declined from 557.39 million in the previous session to 448.88 million. K-Electric Limited (KEL +2.18pc), TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +1.15pc) and The Bank of Punjab (BOP -3.55pc) remained the volume leaders of the day. The scripts had exchanged 42.81 million, 25.29 million and 19.15 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that pulled the index lower included banking (-87.61 points), cement (-79.15 points) and fertilizer (-64.74 points). Among the companies, Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO -56.83 points), United Bank Limited (UBL -34.49 points) and Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK -34.03 points) dented the index the most.
The cement sector lost 3.27pc from its cumulative market capitalization. D G Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC -3.62pc), Bestway Cement Limited (BWCL -4.39pc), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF -4.45pc) and Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK -2.77pc) all closed negative.
Hyundai Nishat Motors, a joint venture of Nishat Mills Limited (NML +0.06pc) and Hyundai Motors Limited, has announced to have launched its first commercial vehicle ‘Hyundai Porter H 100’. The company plans to invest more than $230 million to enhance its production capacity from 15,000 units to 30,000 units.
