Bears dominate trading as PSX sheds 632 points

KARACHI: Bearish sentiments prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, with the indices accumulating losses all day long while volumes increased from last session.

Global equity markets displayed a mixed performance, whereas crude oil prices continued to move north with WTI crude price appreciating 0.17pc to $41.52 while Brent crude oil price increasing 0.14pc to $43.87. 

“The market took a hammering on Thursday, mainly on the back of rising Covid-19 cases and government’s initiative to increase social distancing measures. Selling activity was witnessed across the board, with major impact coming from exploration & production and banking sectors. Cement stocks carried the negative vibes from yesterday that came from the lower number of despatches recorded in the first week of November,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.

MARKET SUMMARY

The KSE-100 Index remained in the negative zone throughout the session, registering its intraday low at 40,492.75 after losing 704.57 points. It settled lower by 632.77 points at 40,564.55.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 1,126.87 points to end at 64,977.62, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 415.95 points, closing at 28,448.21. 

The overall market volumes surged from 244.26 million shares in the previous session to 328.01 million shares (+34pc). Average traded value also increased by 31pc, from $54.5 million to $71.4 million. Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY -3.37pc), Soneri Bank Ltd (SNBL +6.84pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -4.95pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 29.57 million, 22.54 million and 19.63 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included banking (-133.72 points), oil & gas exploration (-117.49 points) and cement (-82.64 points). Among the companies, Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -42.84 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -42.82 points) and Pak Petroleum Ltd (-40.58 pts) dented the index the most.

Shedding 5.47pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the refinery sector ended as the session’s top loser, with Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL -7.41pc), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL -7.15pc), National Refinery Ltd (NRL -6.94pc) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO -4.24pc) posting significant losses.