Stocks tumble 85 points on selling pressure

KARACHI: Failing to carry forward positive momentum from the last session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed volatility on Wednesday, with the benchmark index closing in the red despite accumulating over 500 points intraday. 

Global equity markets also displayed a mixed pattern, whereas crude oil prices continued to move north; WTI crude price surging 1.63pc to $42.29 while Brent crude price rising 1.48pc to $45.16.

“The stock market opened on a positive note mainly on the back of a rally in E&P, banking and fertiliser stocks, but selling pressure later in the day brought the index below the opening level,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd. “The fertiliser sector felt the heat of the Supreme Court’s decision on GIDC, which is scheduled to be announced tomorrow (Thursday).

Gaining 559.45 points in early trade, the KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 41,118.60. It, however, lost all the momentum and fell to its intraday low at 40,390.39 after shedding 168.76 points. The index finally settled lower by 85.97 points at 40,473.18. 

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index was short of 568.33 pts closing at 64,503.80. While the KSE All Share index declined by 126.61 pts ending at 28,221.08.

The overall market volumes contracted from 600.04 million shares in the previous session to 590.88 million shares (-2pc). Average traded value also declined by 10pc, from $147.9 million to $133.6 million. Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL -3.00pc), TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +2.73pc) and Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL -0.07pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 88.37 million, 36.33 million and 32.35 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that dragged the benchmark index in the red included cement (55.63 points), oil & gas marketing (33.01 points) and oil & gas exploration (23.49 points). Among the companies, Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL 16.52 pts), Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK 16.04 pts) and MCB Bank Ltd (MCB 15.07 pts) dented the index the most.

Losing 1.49pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the cement sector turned out to be the session’s top loser, with DG Khan Cement Company (DGKC 0.40pc), Bestway Cement (BWCL 1.48pc) and Fauji Cement Company (FCCL 2.64pc) closing in the red.

Meanwhile, Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL -3.00pc) has announced that it has been granted a permanent marketing licence by Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) in place of its existing provisional marketing licence.