KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), which opened positively on Monday, failed to sustain its gains in the second half and closed the session in the red zone.
Keeping up with their selling pattern, foreign investors offloaded shares worth $4.15 million in the preceding week (October 7-11).
On the economic front, a Pakistani delegation, headed by Economic Affairs Minister Hammad Azhar, is currently in Paris to inform the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) about steps taken by Pakistan to counter money laundering and terrorism financing. In case the FATF is satisfied with the steps, the procedure to remove Pakistan from the grey list would commence. However, the body may consider steps to include Pakistan in its blacklist if the latter is found non-compliant.
Gaining 21.65 points, the KSE-100 Index benchmark recorded its intraday high of 34,697.34 in the morning session. However, the index soon changed its trajectory and marked its day’s low of 34,124.81 after losing 350.88 points. It settled lower by 289.43 points at 34,186.26. The KMI-30 Index fell short by 393.53 points at 54,933.33, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 125.37 points, ending at 24,669.22.
Sectors that pushed the KSE-100 Index lower included banking (-132.47 points), cement (-51.37 points) and fertiliser (-29.90 points). Among the companies, Habib Bank Limited (HBL -41.52 points), Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK -39.33 points) and MCB Bank Limited (MCB -26.00 points) remained the top negative contributors.
The overall market volumes were recorded at 137.93 million, of which 72pc came from the KSE-100 index scripts. Tech gaints Worldcall Telecom (WTL -4.50pc) and TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -5.60pc) held the first two spots on the volume chart, followed by Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM -0.37pc). The scripts had traded 14.25 million, 11.61 million and 9.70 million shares respectively.
The refinery sector (-3.31pc) turned out to be the top loser of the day. Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL -4.83pc), National Refinery Limited (NRL -4.01pc), Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL -3.63pc) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO -2.85pc) all ended in the red zone.
