KARACHI – The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday witnessed high volatility as the benchmark KSE-100 Index touched record intra-day highs but eventually closed lower by 259.56 points or 0.21%, settling at 124,093.12.
The index traded within a wide range of 2,871.73 points during the day, reaching an all-time intra-day high of 126,718.28 and a low of 123,846.55. The total volume for the KSE-100 Index stood at 371.98 million shares.
Earlier in the day, the index peaked at 126,715.77 at 11:43 AM, gaining over 2,000 points on the back of post-budget sentiment, record remittance inflows, and expectations of monetary easing. The upward momentum was attributed to fiscal continuity and reduced policy uncertainty following the federal budget announcement.
However, profit-taking in heavyweight sectors dragged the index into negative territory by the session’s close. Of the 100 companies listed in the benchmark index, 35 advanced, 63 declined, and 2 remained unchanged.
Key losers included HUMNL (-4.55%), KEL (-4.20%), POML (-3.83%), PSX (-3.73%), and AKBL (-3.19%). On the gaining side, BNWM (+10.01%), PKGP (+10.00%), GHGL (+7.30%), IBFL (+4.84%), and NML (+3.76%) led the charge.
Major index draggers were ENGROH (-113.40 points), FFC (-81.67), PPL (-75.62), OGDC (-70.33), and BAFL (-60.29). Meanwhile, companies contributing positively included PKGP (+124.83), UBL (+64.92), BAHL (+58.80), LUCK (+56.88), and DGKC (+41.10).
Sector-wise, the index was weighed down by investment banks/securities companies (-131.09 points), oil and gas exploration (-128.32), fertilizer (-83.95), auto assemblers (-41.76), and OMCs (-25.04). Support came from cement (+144.23), power generation and distribution (+49.77), glass and ceramics (+43.30), textile composite (+17.95), and miscellaneous (+15.15).
In the broader market, the All-Share Index lost 221.51 points or 0.29% to close at 77,106.29. Total market volume was recorded at 1.02 billion shares, slightly down from 1.04 billion in the previous session. Traded value, however, rose to Rs50.54 billion, up Rs3.83 billion.
A total of 489,502 trades were executed across 474 listed companies, with 170 closing in the green, 270 in the red, and 34 remaining unchanged.
