PSX closes week in red, loses 880 points amid uncertainty

KARACHI: Trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) suspended on Friday with index bleeding red. Sell-off continued with indices recording their fresh 52- week lows. Investors preferred to liquidate on the back of growing macroeconomic challenges and a lack of direction from the newly-formed government.

The KSE 100 index slipped below the 37,600 mark and after losing 992.90 points the index touched its intraday low at 37,405.40. It finally settled lower by 2.35 per cent or 880.37 points at 37,517.93. The KMI 30 index declined by 2.84 per cent and ended the day at 63,401.60 after depreciating by 1,852.12 points, while the KSE All Share index was down by 1.60 per cent and closed the day at 27,767.45 after losing 450.57 points.

Overall, the trading volumes remained thin and were recorded at 135.13 million. Over 68 per cent of the total came from scripts of the KSE 100 index. TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -4.97 per cent) led the volume chart with 10.04 million shares exchange hands, followed by K-Electric Limited (KEL +1.96 per cent) with a volume of 8.86 million.

Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited (EPCL -2.49 per cent) also managed to be amongst the volume leaders after the company announced its results for the 3rd Quarter ending September 30, 2018. Sales were up by 15 per cent in the quarter, while the earning per share remained same from the previous year at Rs1.25.

The Searle Company Limited (SEARLE -2.12 per cent) also released its financials for Financial Year 2017-18 (FY18). The company declared a final cash dividend of Rs5.00 per share along with 15 per cent bonus share. Sales appreciated by 20 per cent YoY whereas the earning per share increased from Rs14.29 in the preceding year to Rs16.51 in the current year.

The largest sector by market capitalization lost 1.19 per cent from its cumulative market capitalization. Big players like MCB Bank Limited (MCB) declined by 3.01 per cent while Habib Bank Limited (HBL) depreciated by 1.88 per cent. United Bank Limited (UBL -1.90 per cent), Bank AlFalah Limited (BAFL -2.56 per cent) and Bank AL Habib Limited (BAHL -1.52 per cent) also ended the day in negative.