KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday witnessed a bearish day as the benchmark 100-index shed 292.49 points to drop to 45196.37 level at closing.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 45488.86 points and lowest level of 45160.64 points, with the volume of 131.21 million shares and value of Rs5.18 billion. As many as 377 companies were active; of which 132 advanced, 223 declined and 22 remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd was the volume leader with 15.13 million shares, adding Rs0.39 to reach Rs11.66. It was followed by Bank of Punjab with 14.38 million shares, losing Rs0.25 to end at Rs12.21 and Bank Alfalah Ltd with 10.82 million shares, adding Rs0.11 to close at Rs51.98.
The top three gainers were Colgate Palmolive (Pak) Ltd with price per share of 3114.30 (148.30), Island Textile Mills Ltd with price per share of 1091.20 (51.96) and Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd of 821.78 (39.13).
The top three losers were Rafhan Maize Products Ltd with price per share of 7750 (-150), Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd with price per share of 2451.72 (-129.03) and Pakistan Tobacco Co Ltd share of 2235 (-111).
The stocks opened negative after shedding 144 points to reach 45344 level in early trading. The PSX further deepened till midday as the benchmark 100-index shed 245 points to drop to 45243 level.
On Monday, the equities wobbled throughout the first trading session after FY19 budget announcement with stock market initially kicking off on a positive note, making an intra-day high of +299 points. Nonetheless, the euphoria fizzled out quickly and the index witnessed a low of -118 points to ultimately close at 45,489 points, down by 52 points.
Although federal budget FY18-19 was largely a positive for the market, volatile market conditions prevailed as political uncertainty surrounding upcoming general elections continued to haunt investors. During the session, major heavyweights namely HBL (-0.92 percent), OGDC (-0.92 percent), PPL (-0.18 percent), ENGRO (-1.39 percent), MCB (-0.91 percent), BAHL (-2.26 percent) cumulatively contributed -118 points to the overall index and overall traded volumes witnessed accretion of 11 percent DoD to clock-in at 249m shares and value traded also improved to $74m.
