KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday lost massive 880 points; however, it recovered most of them but finished in red after shedding 300 points.
The index remained on a downward trajectory, hitting an intra-day low of 38,719.62 points. In the morning, trading activity began on a negative note and the market fell steadily till midday when it touched its lowest mark for the day. Later, aggressive buying dominated market proceedings and the index recovered nearly 500 points.
Index-heavy stocks including automobile, financial and cement stocks came under pressure and most of them closed in the red.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 299.76 points or 0.76% to settle at 39,303.11.
Buying activity was seen in cement, steel, bank and fertiliser sectors. The chemical sector saw larger volumes compared to cement and banking sectors, with most of the activity in Lotte Chemical.
Stocks that contributed positively included Dawood Hercules (+34 points), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+16 points) and International Steels (+12 points). Stocks that contributed negatively were Habib Bank (-33 points), Pakistan State Oil (-29 points) and United Bank Limited (-28 points).
Overall, trading volumes decreased to 138.1 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 195.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.8 billion.
Shares of 358 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 103 stocks closed higher, 231 declined and 24 remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 10.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.18 to close at Rs18.85. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 9.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs13.11 and Maple Leaf Cement with 8.1 million shares, losing Rs1.39 to close at Rs42.45.
