KARACHI: The last trading day of the week at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started on bearish note as the benchmark 100-index shed 120 points to reach 44940 points level in early trading on Friday.
On Thursday, the bearish sentiments continued to persist at the PSX as the benchmark 100-share index shed another 359 points. In the initial hours of the trading session, market showed a positive momentum, making an intra-day high of 669 points. However, profit booking in the latter hours took the index down to close at 45,060 points.
The 100-index was dragged down by the likes of DAWH (down 4.8%), ENGRO (down 1.8%), HUBC (1.5%), UBL (1.2%) & BAHL (1.8%), which held back 139 points; while OGDC (up 1.6%), POL (1.2%), MCB (0.6%), BAFL (1.9%) & PMPK (up 4.4%) contributed 66 points to the green.
On the sector front, fertilizer shed 97 points, banks 56 points, cements 55 points, power 24 points & OMCs 23 points, while E&Ps added 25 points.
Market participation slipped; volumes shed 11% to 148.1mn.sh, while traded value shed 3% to Rs8.6b/$82m. Total 360 active companies participated in the session of which 243 concluded in red, 99 in green while 18 remained unchanged.