LAHORE: Tough times continue for investors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) who saw indices crumble again on Thursday, 28 sessions lowest. As elections draw closer and economic indicators fail to get on the path to recovery, market participants seem to have decided to wait and watch. Market participation has been indicating this.
The KSE 100 index had a huge fall, chopping off 640.19 points to fall to intraday low of 44,556.18. it settled with a loss of 1.01 per cent or 449.74 points at 44,746.63. The KMI 30 index depreciated 1.43 per cent during the session before it closed lower by 0.74 per cent at 75,992.24. The KSE All Share Index lost 283.43 points to end at 32,463.21. A mere 85 scripts managed to appreciate while 271 declined.
The market volumes inched up from 131.21 million of the previous session to 144.23 million. The Bank of Punjab (BOP -1.97 per cent) featured in the list of top traded scripts again. The script which has appreciated 45 per cent in the past 6 months saw investors exchange 14.12 million shares.
Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM -3.43 per cent) was next where investors traded 10.75 million shares. The script has gained 74 per cent in the last six months of trading at the exchange. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -4.98 per cent) followed by a volume of 8.13 million and has appreciated by 53 per cent in half a year of trading.
The largest sector by market capitalisation, commercial bank sector, chopped off 1.40 per cent from its cumulative market cap during the day. Large-cap banks ended with large declines, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) lost 3.19 per cent, United Bank Limited (UBL) bled 2.50 per cent and MCB Bank Limited (MCB) laid off 1.24 per cent.
The oil and gas exploration sector did not have an idle session too. The sectors market cap inched lower by 0.76 per cent with Pak Petroleum Limited (PPL) 1.68 per cent in red and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) 1.18 per cent lower.
Siemens Pakistan Company Engineering Limited (SIEM +4.39 per cent) jumped to its upper circuit breaker intraday after declaring financials for the second quarter of the ongoing financial year. The company posted earnings per share of Rs 72.37 against Rs 34.15 in the previous quarter and Rs 7.28 in the same period last year.
Technically speaking, Thursday’s slide pushed the KSE 100 index below 50EMA (44,897) and 10WEMA (44,893) as the index slips further in a bid to find a strong foothold. A weekly close at current levels would set the stage for further correction.
