KARACHI: Bearish sentiments continued to dominate Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the second consecutive trading session, where the indices were seen on a continuous decline. Foreign investors, on the other hand, ended as net buyers, a rare sight to see, with a net inflow of $1.87 million.
The KSE 100 index benchmark touched an intraday low of 40,755.79 after losing 738.18 points. It finally ended the session lower by 535.43 points at 40,958.53. The KMI 30 index declined by 1.25 per cent (-880.67 points) and closed at 70,327.97, while the KSE All Share index fell short by 298.31 points to end at 29,761.46. The advancers to decliners ratio stood at 87 to 234.
The market volume improved by nearly 8% on a day-to-day basis and was recorded at 230.36 million. The top three traded scripts included Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL +3.22%) with 24.64 million traded shares, Engro Polymer and Chemicals Limited (EPCL +0.32%) with 15.84 million traded shares and Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOCTHEM -2.03%) with 14.53 million shares swapped.
The vanaspati and allied industries (-4.91%), transport sector (-3.33 %), cement sector (-3.21%), engineering sector (-3.17%) and tobacco sector (-2.81%) were the top losers of the day, while the top gainers included textile weaving sector (+1.90%), miscellaneous sector (+1.46%), synthetic and rayon sector (+1.16%), food and personal care products sector (+0.86%) and closed-end mutual fund (+0.67%).
The refinery sector lost 2.46% from its cumulative market capitalization. Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO) declined by 3.75%, Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) by 3.54% and National Refinery Limited (NRL) by 0.87%.
Pace (Pakistan) Limited (PACE -7.45%) declared its financial results for Financial Year 2018. The company’s revenue surged up by a massive 73% YoY. On the other hand, the earnings per share deteriorated from Rs0.80 in the same period last year to a loss per share of Rs-1.93 in the current year.
