KARACHI: The stock market ended down by 122 points on Tuesday following profit taking during the day.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 37,382 points as against 37,504 points showing a decline of 122 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market saw attrition of 91 points (unadjusted) by session’s end, where the index swayed +132 points and -165 points during the day. Profit booking became the mantra for investors, who keenly waited for ISL’s results, they added. Financial results were announced close to session’s end and disappointed investors and analysts alike.
The stock ultimately hit lower circuit and dampened investor sentiment too.
Cement sector remained in the limelight with 29 million traded volume, however, the underlying scrips witnessed selling pressure on the back of disagreement among Cement manufacturers regarding sales quota.
KEL saw activity to the downside in last half hour of trading that saw price dropping below Rs. 5 shortly. The sector that stood out and defied the selling pressure was Autos, which saw most scrips trading at Upper circuit.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-39 points), E&P (-22 points), Engineering (-17 points), O&GMCs (-16 points), Tobacco (-16 points), Autos (+14 points).
Volumes declined further from 172 million to 140 million shares (-19 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 24 percent to reach US$ 33.3 million as against US$ 43.6 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITYR1, KEL, PAEL, PIOC and MLCF, which formed 41 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include UBL (+18 points), FFC (+16 points), HUBC (+7 points), HASCOL (+7 points), and AICL (+6 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively include MCB (-17 points), POL (-15 points), PMPK (-12 points), ISL (-12 points) and PSO (-11 points).
