KARACHI: Putting an end to its seven-day winning streak, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) landed in the red zone on Tuesday.
During the last 10 sessions until October 7, foreign investors remained the net sellers of $15.08 million. Among local investors, mutual funds ($2.47 million), insurance companies ($6.37 million) and banks ($1.47mn) were all seen with outflows. The seven-day rally was driven mainly by individual investors ($8.60 million) and broker proprietary trading ($6.88 million).
On the economic front, Prime Minister Imran Khan is currently on a two-day visit to China. Amongst important economic issues, matters related to CPEC will also be discussed with the Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, the government’s domestic debt surged by 3.68pc in the first two months of the current fiscal year, while external loans declined by 2.80pc during the same period. Domestic debt rose to Rs21.495 billion in August 2019, up from Rs20.731 trillion as on June 30. External debt fell to Rs10.745 trillion in August, as compared to Rs11.055 trillion by the end of June.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index accumulated 235.36 points to mark its intraday high of 33,872.18 during the initial hours. Failing to sustain its gains, the index lost 227.70 points to record its day’s low at 33,409.12. It closed lower by 160.20 points at 33,476.62. The KMI-30 Index was down by 390.35 points or 0.73pc to settle at 53,469.60, while the KSE All Share Index depleted by 97.51 points, ending at 24,150.71.
The overall volumes declined from 392.16 million shares to 242.97 million (down by 38pc on a daily basis). Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +2.75pc), TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -2.36pc) and Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL +1.38pc) led the volume chart. The scripts had exchanged 21.57 million shares, 15.63 million shares and 13.31 million shares respectively.
Sectors that helped the index register gains included chemical (+5.88 points), automobile assembling (+2.76 points) and leather & tanneries (+2.16 points). On the other hand, oil and gas exploration (-31.61 points), cement (-28.84 points) and power generation & distribution (-22.27 points) sectors drove the index in the red zone.
The refinery sector (-3.02pc) turned out as the top loser of the day. National Refinery Limited (NRL -4.50pc), Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL -2.50pc), Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited (BYCO -2.40pc) and Attock Refinery Limited (ATRL -4.06pc) all ended negative.
