KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange on Thursday again witnessed dull trading as the benchmark 100-index shed 364.5 points or 0.95% to settle at 37,853.57.
Despite a brief open in the positive, the KSE-100 index continued to lose ground as investor interest remained weak. The trading session was dominated by negative sentiments due to a lack of triggers and weak macroeconomic indicators.
Selling pressure in banks added to the poor sentiments. Meanwhile, exploration and production (E&P) stocks performed well following an increase in international crude oil prices.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 364.5 points or 0.95% to settle at 37,853.57.
Oil and Gas Development Company (+1.1%) closed up while Pakistan Petroleum Limited (-0.7%) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (+0.3%) closed relatively flat. Mari Petroleum (-1.6%) remained under pressure as the government gave the nod for its secondary public offering.
The biggest dent to the index came from the banking sector as Habib Bank Limited (-2.2%), Bank AL Habib (-3.7%), United Bank Limited (-2.2%) and Bank Alfalah (-4.3%) collectively contributed over 140 points to the decline in KSE-100.
Overall, trading volumes increased to 103.7 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 88.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.55 billion.
Shares of 361 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 101 stocks closed higher, 239 declined and 21 remained unchanged.
Bank Alfalah was the volume leader with 7.2 million shares, losing Rs1.99 to close at Rs43.87. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 5.7 million shares, losing Rs0.14 to close at Rs12.72 and Aisha Steel Mills with 5.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.17 to close at Rs10.55.
