KARACHI: Continuing with the trend from the previous session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended a range-bound session flat on Thursday.
Foreign investors ended as net sellers for the second consecutive session on Wednesday. A net inflow of $0.826 million was recorded with major selling witnessed in the banking sector.
On the economic front, the country’s exports grew by 9.35pc to $2,011 million in November 2019 as compared to the same month last year. Imports decreased by 14pc to $3,940 million over the corresponding month last year. This helped the trade deficit to decline by 29.65pc.
Gaining 238.46 points, the benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,769.88. The index then slid to day’s low at 359.10 after losing 40,172.32 points. It closed lower by 17.25 points at 40,514.17. The KMI-30 index added 23.69 points to end at 64,211.99, while the KSE All Share Index clenched 104.30 points, settling at 29,041.75.
The overall trading volumes shrank from 305.03 million in the previous session to 227.02 million. Shares worth Rs8.41 billion were traded in Thursday’s session. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +1.64pc) turned out to be the volume leader of the day, followed by TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -3.96pc) and Fauji Foods Limited (FFL -1.33pc). The scripts had exchanged 37.75 million, 12.90 million and 11.01 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that drove the south included oil and gas marketing (-24.62 points), banking (-24.54 points) and cement (-21.26 points). On the other hand, oil and gas exploration (+53.14 points), tobacco (+31.61 points) and investment banking sectors (+27.11 points) remained the top positive contributors.
The refinery sector lost 2.28pc from its cumulative market capitalization. Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL -3.79pc), National Refinery Limited (NRL -2.85pc), Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL -2.18pc) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO -1.86pc) ended in the red zone.
