KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another jittery session on Wednesday, with the benchmark index succumbing to selling pressure and closing in the red.
“The session was marred by the news that the Senate has rejected the Anti-Terrorism Act (amendment) Bill, 2020, which was earlier passed by the National Assembly. Besides, the State Bank of Pakistan announced the date for its monetary policy decision, for which the street consensus is of a status quo,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd. “Banks, oil & gas marketing, pharma and steel sectors remained under selling pressure on Wednesday, whereas fertiliser and cement sectors performed well in anticipation of an increase in their prices.”
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed in both directions during the session, registering its intraday high at 42,544.87 (+198.45 points) and intraday low at 42,091.97 (-254.45 points). It settled lower by 64.14 points at 42,282.28.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index gained 62.19 points to close at 67,662.93, whereas the KSE All Share Index lost  117.30 points, ending at 30,042.16.
The overall market volumes contracted from 662.80 million shares in the previous session to 489.60 million shares (-26pc). Average traded value also declined by 21pc, from $111.8 million to $87.9 million. K-Electric Ltd (KEL -1.46pc), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -1.54pc) and Dewan Cement Ltd (DCL +5.44pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 70.58 million, 37.39 million and 28.13 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that painted the benchmark index red included banking (-67.84 points), oil & gas marketing sector (-28.38 points) and power generation & distribution (-26.74 points). Among the companies, Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -28.35 points), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (PAKT -18.40 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -16.06 points) dented the index the most.
Losing 1.41pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas marketing sector ended as the session’s top loser, with Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO -1.32pc), Shell Pakistan Ltd (SHEL -1.54pc) and Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -1.54pc) closing in the negative.
Meanwhile, Millat Tractors Ltd (MTL +1.67pc) declared its financial performance for FY20. The company’s sales were down by 26pc YoY to Rs22.94 billion, while its financial cost inflated from Rs42.04 million to Rs217.84 million. MTL declared earnings per share of Rs43.16 for the preiod under review (Rs73.01 in FY19).
