KARACHI: Failing to sustain gains accumulated in early trade, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed in the red on Wednesday.
Global equity markets, on the other hand, mostly showed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices continued to move north from the previous close; WTI crude price appreciating 2.26pc to $38.51 while Brent crude price rising 2.29pc to $40.62.
According to a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd, “The stock market opened on a positive note, gaining over 400 points during the initial trading hours, in addition to yesterday’s 1,368 points. But late selling pressure in key stocks, particularly banking, cement and oil & gas marketing sectors, dragged to the index towards the red.”
MARKET SUMMARY
Accumulating 433.71 points in early trade, the benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,914.59. It, however, lost momentum thereon and fell to intraday low at 40,223.45 after shedding 257.43 points. The index finally settled lower by 198.92 points at 40,281.96.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 319.81 points to end at 64,336.08, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 64.93 points, closing at 28,366.00.
The overall market volumes increased from 383.93 million shares in the previous session to 427.26 million shares (+11pc). Average traded value, however, only inched up 1pc, from $86.3 million to $87.0 million. Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY -3.89pc), Fauji Foods Ltd (FFL +5.78pc) and Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -0.20pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 47.73 million, 34.77 million and 30.33 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark index lower included banking (-84.43 points), cement (-42.76 points) and power generation & distribution (-41.09 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -36.43 points), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -32.73 points) and United Bank Ltd (UBL -26.57 points) dented the index the most.
Shedding 2.08pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the power generation & distribution sector ended as the session’s top loser, with Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -2.04pc), K-Electric Ltd (KEL -3.36pc) and Altern Energy Limited (ALTN -5.63pc) ending in the negative.
