KARACHI: The stock market fell by 212 points on Friday as selling pressure observed during the trading.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 40,243 points as against 40,455 points showing a decline of 212 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that similar to what was witnessed yesterday. The market opened on a positive note with +139 points and closed the session in red, with -180 points.
During the sessions, the index lost 361 points in total but last hour of trading saw some recovery with PSO showing some life, as the news related to Sukuk II broke.
Overall, selling activity was observed across the board barring few scrips in Banking sector. LOTCHEM announced relatively better results, however, concerns over product margins caused Investors to sell positions.
Despite having two sessions the trading volumes declined significantly over the day. Transport Sector led the volumes on the bourse with 19 million shares, followed by Chemical (15.3 million) and Technology (13.4 million).
Among scrips, PIBTL realized 17.5 million shares, followed by LOTCHEM (13.1 million) and HASCOL (9.1 million).
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-49 points), Tobacco (-38 points), Inv Banks (-31 points), O&GMCs (-28 points), Fertilizer (-23 points) and Banks (+32 points).
Volumes declined from 197.6 million shares to 117.5 million shares (-41 percent DoD). Average traded value declined by 47 percent to reach US$ 24.5 million as against US$ 46 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include PIBTL, LOTCHEM, HASCOL, AVN and UNITY, which formed 48 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include HBL (+48 points), MCB (+24 points), MEBL (+14 points), IGIHL (+9 points) and NATF (+4 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PAKT (-38 points), DAWH (-30 points), POL (-20 points), ENGRO (-19 points), and OGDC (-14 points).
