KARACHI: Breaking its two-day winning streak, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed in the red on Wednesday, with the indices failing to sustain early gains amid profit booking.
Equity markets around the world showed a mixed pattern, whereas crude oil prices continued with its northward journey; WTI crude price rising 0.80pc to $60.53 while Brent crude price increasing 0.99pc to $63.98 (as at 3:51pm PST).
“The market opened on a positive note but lost its momentum in the latter half. HBL’s announcement of financial results became a major dampener for investors who bought the share in anticipation of hefty dividend. PSO and ENGRO were also due to announce results today, but were deferred till tomorrow due to shortage of time. Among others, profit booking was mainly observed in cement, steel and power sectors,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index endured a volatile session on Wednesday, recording its intraday high at 47,305.86 (+437.91 points) and low at 46,726.85 (-141.10 points). It settled lower by 99.81 points at 46,768.14.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index gained 192.07 points to close at 77,944.20, while the KSE All Share Index added 93.15 points, ending at 32,048.68.
The overall market volumes surged from 514.04 million shares on Tuesday to 699.05 million shares (+36pc). Average traded value also increased by 12pc, from $159.2 million to $179 million. Hum Network Ltd (HUMNL -1.55pc), Telecard Ltd (TELE +1.70pc) and Dost Steels Ltd (DSL +17.86pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 77.89 million, 76.13 million and 52.95 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark index lower included banking (-176.01 points), power generation & distribution (-40.60 points) and oil & gas exploration (-37.75 points). Among the companies, Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -199.46 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -34.41 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -34.36 points) dented the index the most.
Losing 0.98pc from its total market capitalization, the banking sector ended as the session’s worst performer, with HBL (-5.58pc), MCB Bank Ltd (MCB -0.55pc) and SCBPL (-3.76pc) ending in the negative.
Meanwhile, in a notification informed the exchange, Kohat Cement Company Ltd (KOHC +2.32pc) informed that its board has approved to set up a 7,800-10,000tpd cement plant with 8-10MW waste heat recovery and 25MW coal power plant for estimated cost of Rs30 billion.
