KARACHI: The bearish sentiments continued to prevail at the Pakistan Stock Exchange till midday as the benchmark also lost the psychological barrier of 47,000 after dropping 163 points to reach 46962 points on Tuesday.
Earlier, the stocks became bearish soon after positive opening and shed 48 points to reach 47077 points level in early trading.
On Monday, bearish spell prevailed at the PSX as index slumped 452 points or (0.95pc) and to close at 47,125 points. Maximum downside contribution emanated from HBL (slip 1.8pc), ENGRO (3.4pc), FFC (3.8pc), LUCK (1.1pc) & FCCL (3pc), eroding 215 points from the index; while NESTLE (gain 3.7pc), POL (1.4pc), HUBC (0.7pc), NRL (2.6pc) and UBL (up 0.4pc), added 75 points.
ATRL (4.9pc) declined on the back of lower than expected 3QFY17 consolidated EPS of Rs6.15, down 74pc QoQ vs Rs23.83 in 2QFY17, as the market was expecting better earnings post completion of refinery upgradation. FCCL reported 3QFY17 EPS of Rs0.5, down -57pc YoY as gross margins contracted 27ppts due to purchase of outsourced clinker post the silo fiasco. Overall, volumes increased by 23 percent to 154 million shares, while traded value rose by 14 percent at Rs8.2 billion.