KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Thursday witnessed bearish activity as the benchmark 100-Index plunged 416 points to close at 43,680.
The index showed some positive activity in the first few minutes of the session to touch a day’s high of 44,151 points. However, the benchmark could not sustain the positive momentum and adopted a negative trend for the rest of the session. It touched a day’s low of 43,630 points near the end of the session.
The stocks witnessed fluctuation in early trading and gained 51 points to reach 44147 points level in early trading.
Overall, 246 million shares worth Rs9.5 billion changed hands during the session. Of the 360 traded scrips, 118 advanced, 224 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
Overall, cement scrips dominated trading with 35.7m shares traded, while banking and food & personal care scrips followed with 24.7m and 24m shares changing hands respectively.
On Wednesday, the stock market edged up higher with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling at 44,096 levels, up 0.5 percent of 210 points after making a high of +414 points.
Traded volumes slightly improved by 13 percent on daily basis to 270 million shares while value traded picked up to $103mn. Top volume stocks were TRG (-0.05 percent) ANL (+6.05 percent), ASL (-2.15 percent) and SSGC (+2.92). Positive sentiments were witnessed in the Gas Utilities, where SNGP (+1.16 percent) and SSGC (+2.92 percent) closed positive.
Active participation was seen in SSGC as the Petroleum Division has sought waiver of liquidated damages for non-supply of gas to an IPP. APL (-0.35 percent) and PSO (-0.32 percent) closed in the red. PSO came under the hammer as receivables of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have gone up to Rs334.1bn because of default of power sector to the tune of Rs283 billion.
