LAHORE: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) traded mostly red on Wednesday. Market sentiment went south during early trading as concerns on economy and politics resurfaced along with fears of unabated foreign selling. Following a weak start and a technical resistance in play the KSE 100 index plunged into an abyss as risk-averse sentiment forced triggered happy traders to offload risky assets.
The KSE 100 dropped to an intraday low of 42,954.89 after a loss of 727.95 points before it settled down at 680.01 points at 43,002.83. The KMI 30 index depreciated 1.25 per cent during the session while the KSE All share Index ended lower by 433.85 points at 31,204.82. Only 78 scripts managed to clinch any gains and over 200 declined.
As panic selling came to the forefront market volume and turnover surged 43.60 per cent and 22.61 per cent, respectively, following a technical breach of 20EMA and rising trend line support.
The market volumes rose up to 136.30 million compared to the previous sessions 123.27 million. The top three volume leaders felt the pressure of the depreciating market and ended negative. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -0.26 per cent) was on top with 16.16 million shares traded. Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM -0.88 per cent) was next with 8.24 million shares exchanged and Pak Elektron limited (PAEL -4.55 per cent) followed with 6.34 million shares traded.
Materials were in the limelight again (33.8 per cent of total turnover) followed by financials (19.8 per cent of total turnover) and energy (15.0 per cent of total turnover). A notable contribution to market participation came from ENGRO (6 per cent of total turnover) and EFERT (5.8 per cent of total turnover). Industrials came to the forefront as TRG (8.7 per cent of total turnover) and PAEL (4.1 per cent of total turnover) witnessed heavy trading activity.
The cement sector took a 2.33 per cent hit on its cumulative market capitalisation. Big names closed with big falls. Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK) contracted 3.21 per cent, Maple Leaf Cement Limited (MLCF) lost 3.17 per cent and DG Khan Cement Company Limited (DGKC) posted a decline of 2.43 per cent.
The commercial bank sector lost 1.99 per cent from its market capitalization. Largest bank of market cap, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) ended the day 3.54 per cent in the red, Meezan Bank Limited (MEBL) and Bank Alfalah Limited (BAFL) were lower by 4.06 per cent and 4.37 per cent respectively.
