KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a low-volume and range-bound session on Monday, with the KSE-100 Index losing 192.60 points (-0.40 percent) to settle at 47,478.61 points.
The market opened on a positive note but remained in the green territory only for the first few minutes of the session. Later, the bears controlled the market. The market saw cautious trading due to political and economic issues in the country. The Islamabad High Court reserved verdict on a plea seeking suspension of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s sentence in Toshakhana case. Similarly, the rupee’s continuous depreciation against the US dollar kept the investors at bay. Moreover, ongoing protests against electricity charges in the country also kept the bearish mood of the market intact.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 334.23 points showing an intraday high of 47,733.5 points and an intraday low of 47,399.27 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 123.05 points (-0.39 percent) to close at 31,508.55 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 191.57 points (-0.84 percent) to close at 22,820.88 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 5.87 million shares to 97.81 million shares against 91.94 million shares traded a session earlier. However, the overall market volumes decreased by 7.90 million shares to 184.14 million shares against 192.04 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 19.24 million shares, followed by BIPL (16.66 million) and KTML (10.48 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, BIPL, KTML, WTL, and NCPL, which formed over 35 percent of total volumes.
A total of 313 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 327 a session earlier, out of which shares of 90 closed up, shares of 202 closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. A total of 94 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against the same number of companies a session earlier, out of which share price of 31 companies closed up, 61 closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased by 5,173 to 94,012 as compared to 88,839 trades recorded in the previous session, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.06 billion to Rs6.47 billion as compared to Rs6.53 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, PAKT remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs24.75 (+3.57 percent) per share, closing at Rs718. The runner-up remained AABS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs18.5 (+3.84 percent) to Rs500. RMPL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs75 (-0.9 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,300, followed by SAPL, the share price of which fell by Rs56.69 (-7.38 percent) to close at Rs711 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were oil & gas exploration companies (57 points), cement (48 points), technology & communication (27 points), oil & gas marketing companies (25 points), and pharmaceuticals (23 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained OGDC (39 points), PPL (33 points), LUCK (31 points), TRG (19 points), and HUBC (17 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were fertilizer (17 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (11 points), tobacco (9 points), automobile parts & accessories (4 points), and commercial banks (3 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained HMB (36 points), POL (16 points), KAPCO (15 points), FATIMA (12 points), and FFC (11 points). – TLTP