KARACHI: Bearish trend prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, with the indices succumbing to selling pressure despite early gains.
“The stock market opened on a positive note, mainly on the back of buying activity in fertiliser and banking sectors, but remained under selling pressure later in the second hand, with profit booking in exploration & production, cement, steel and pharma sectors,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index saw volatile activity throughout the day, touching its intraday high at 42,869.69 (+222.34 points) and intraday low at 42,457.53 (-189.82 points). It settled lower by 116.68 points at 42,530.67.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 412.63 points to close at 67,986.88, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 134.16 points, ending at 30,246.21.
The overall market volumes shrank from 884.94 million shares in the previous session to 525.57 million shares (-41pc). Average traded value also declined by 35pc, from $163.2 million to $105.7 million. Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL +4.10pc), Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO -5.84pc) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBTL -1.09pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 60.78 million, 54.64 million and 25.75 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark lower included oil & gas exploration (-60.15pts), cement (-59.53pts) and food & personal care (-27.06pts). Among the companies, Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL -42.26pts), Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK -27.44pts) and Nestle Pakistan (NESTLE -17.56pts) dented the index the most.
Shedding 3.80pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the refinery sector ended as the session’s top loser, with Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL -1.75pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL -0.86pc) and National Refinery Ltd (NRL -1.15pc) closing in the red.
On the financial side, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (MLCF -2.47pc) reported earnings per share of -Rs5.30 for FY20 (Rs2.47 in FY19), Hinopak Motors Ltd (HINO +7.50pc) announced an EPS of Rs-165.71 for FY20 (Rs-70.42 in FY19), Amreli Steels Ltd (ASTL -2.94pc) declared an EPS of Rs-3.79 (Rs0.11 in FY19) while Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL -2.59pc) posted an EPS of Rs18.47 (Rs22.65 in FY19).
