KARACHI: Bearish sentiment continued to prevail at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, with the benchmark index once again succumbing to late selling pressure and closing in the red.
Global equity markets displayed a mixed pattern, whereas crude oil prices continued to slip lower; WTI crude price declining 1.38pc to $47.32, while Brent crude falling 1.08pc to $50.36 (as at 3:53pm PST).
“Reminiscent of the previous session, the market moved within a narrow range for the most part, before collapsing under selling pressure — mainly in banking, E&P and cement stocks,” said a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd. “International crude prices remained subdued after yesterday’s blow, causing pressure in E&P stocks, whereas foreign investors have been spring cleaning their holdings in banking sector [before the close of calendar year], thus playing a significant role in bringing the index down.”
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed both ways on Tuesday, registering its intraday high at 43,478.97 (+145.21 points) and low at 42,757.49 (-576.27 points). It settled lower by 426.65 points at 42,906.94.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 836.96 points to end at 69,695.75, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 287.91 points, closing at 30,199.26.
The overall market volumes increased from 516.44 million shares in the previous session to 560.35 million shares (+9pc), whereas average traded value clocked in at $140.9 million as against $140.3 million (+0.4pc). Worldcall Telecom (WTL -2.56pc), Invest Capital Investment Bank Ltd (ICIBL +11.29pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -5.12pc) topped the volume chart, exchanging 70.79 million, 30.81 million and 23.61 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark index to the red included banking (-88.59 pts), oil and gas exploration (-60.93 points) and automobile assembling (-32.64 points). Among the companies, TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -41.21 points), Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL -30.38 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (-25.13 points) denting the index the most.
Shedding 5.48pc from its cumulative market cap, the refinery sector ended as the session’s worth performer, with Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO -3.42pc), National Refinery Ltd (NRL -7.14pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL -6.92pc) and Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL -6.75pc) posting significant losses.
