Stock market sheds 116 points in range-bound, wary trade

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) drifted lower for the second straight session on Tuesday, with the KSE-100 Index losing 116.02 points (-0.25 percent) to close at 46,277.65 points.
The market opened on a positive note and stayed in the green territory for the first two hours of the session. However, the market remained range-bound amid a lack of positive triggers and investors remained cautious, eagerly awaiting major market developments. The rupee extended gains against the US dollar in the interbank and open markets for the 16th consecutive session but the market remained somewhat unaffected, which indicated a lack of confidence among investors in the market.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 244.86 points, showing an intraday high of 46,503.82 points and an intraday low of 46,258.96 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 41.70 points (+0.13 percent) to close at 31,124.50 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 26.15 points (-0.12 percent) to close at 22,612.06 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 6.04 million to 95.63 million shares against 89.59 million shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes increased by 63.38 million shares to 259.05 million shares against 195.67 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, PIAA topped the volumes with 39.59 million shares, followed by WTL (26.12 million), and KEL (11.09 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PIAA, WTL, KEL, FFL, and CNERGY, which formed over 37 percent of total volumes.
A total of 327 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 323 a session earlier, out of which shares of 142 closed up, shares of 164 closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. A total of 97 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies in the previous session, out of which share price of 42 companies closed up, 52 closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 14,851 to 114,412 from 99,561 a session earlier, while the value traded increased by Rs1.16 billion to Rs6.69 billion as compared to Rs5.53 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, NESTLE remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs190 (+2.71 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,190. The runner-up remained RMPL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs123.33 (+1.57 percent) to Rs7,990. AWTL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs100 (-6.41 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,460, followed by SFL, the share price of which fell by Rs85.4 (-7.08 percent) to close at Rs1,120.25 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were oil & gas exploration companies (41 points), commercial banks (33 points), technology & communication and fertilizer (26 points each), and chemicals (15 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained HBL (37 points), PPL (23 points), SYS (20 points), and ENGRO and MEBL (14 points each).
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained refinery (21 points), food & personal care products (20 points), tobacco (13 points), cement (10 points), and insurance (9 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained NESTLE (25 points), MCB (16 points), ATRL (14 points), PAKT (13 points), and LUCK (10 points). – TLTP