PSX sheds 265 points amid selling pressure

KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed selling pressure for the second straight day on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 265.58 points (-0.41 percent) to close at 65,151.82 points.
The market opened on a sharp positive note, hitting an intra-day high of 65,534.02. However, profit-taking in the second half weighed on the market and pushed it into the negative territory. The profit-taking was in line with expectations, as the market participants were expecting this after an agreement with the IMF.
Earlier on Wednesday, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the final review of a $3 billion bailout, where the country will receive $1.1 billion after approval from the Fund’s Executive Board in late April. “Pakistan’s economic and financial position has improved in the months since the first review, with growth and confidence continuing to recover on the back of prudent policy management and the resumption of inflows from multilateral and bilateral partners,” IMF’s mission chief, Nathan Porter, said in a statement.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 477.37 points, showing an intraday high of 65,534.02 points and an intraday low of 65,056.65 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 259.13 points (-0.60 percent) to close at 43,240.78 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 155.36 points (-0.50 percent) to close at 30,788.58 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased to 83.03 million shares from 242.67 million shares a session earlier, while the overall market volumes decreased to 208.41 million shares from 389.65 million shares a session earlier. Among scrips, PAKRI topped the volumes with 24.16 million shares, followed by PIAA (16.54 million) and PTC (10.93 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PAKRI, PIAA, PTC, WTL, and AGL, which formed over 34 percent of total volumes.
A total of 328 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 355 a session earlier, out of which shares of 117 closed up, shares of 184 companies closed down while shares of 27 companies remained unchanged. A total of 94 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 98 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 33 companies closed up, 59 companies closed down and two remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased to 100,007 from 155,386 on day-on-day (DoD), while the value traded decreased to Rs7.15 billion from Rs11.31 billion a session earlier.
In terms of rupee, RMPL remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs175 (+2.13 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,400. The runner-up remained HPL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs93.87 (+7.45 percent) to Rs1,353.87. NESTLE remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs310 (-4.13 percent) per share, closing at Rs7,200, followed by SAPT, the share price of which fell by Rs75 (-4.69 percent) to close at Rs1,525 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards south remained commercial banks (55 points), oil & gas exploration companies (53 points), power and distribution companies (34 points), fertilizer (27 points), food and personal care products (23 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (18 points), and cement (14 points).
Major companies depriving the index of points remained OGDC (24 points), UBL (22 points), HBL and HUBC (20 points), NESTLE and PTC (11 points each), DAWH (9 points), PPL (7 points), and HMB and PIAA (6 points each).
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained miscellaneous (19 points), paper and board (5 points), and synthetic and rayon (3 points).
Major companies adding points to the index remained NBP (24 points), PSEL (10 points), AGL (7 points), MEBL (6 points), TRG and PAKRI (4 points each), and SYS, IGIIL, ENGRO and BAFL (3 points each).