KARACHI: Bears dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on first trading session of the week, as investors preferred to stay on sidelines ahead of monetary policy announcement by the State Bank of Pakistan.
Global equity markets also showed a negative trend, whereas crude oil prices slipped lower from the previous close; WTI crude price falling 2.03pc to $40.49 while Brent crude price declining 1.88pc to $42.34.
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the red throughout the day, registering its intraday low at 42,121.32 (-383.44 points). It settled lower by 330.63 points at 42,174.13.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index dropped 473.98 points to end at 67,858.97, while the KSE All Share Index lost 205.95 points, closing at 29,961.06.
The overall market volumes were recorded at 433.92 million. Shares worth Rs11.32 bn were traded on Monday. Aisha Steel Mills Ltd (ASL +5.51pc), Unity Foods (UNITY +0.61pc) and Fauji Foods Ltd (FFL -4.55pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 58.75 million, 48.20 million and 35.99 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included banking (-90.85 points), fertilizer (-52.10 points) and oil & gas exploration (-48.94 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -25.74 points), United Bank Ltd (UBL -21.66 points) and Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd (FFC -20.74 points) dented the index the most.
Shedding 2.45pc from its cumulative market capitalisation, the refinery sector ended as the session’s top loser, with Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO -2.58pc), Attock Refinery (ATRL -1.12pc), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL -4.43pc) and National Refinery Ltd (NRL -1.70pc) closing in the negative.
Meanwhile, Ghani Automobile Industries Ltd (GAIL -2.46pc) and Ghani Value Glass Ltd (GVGL -6.36pc) announced earnings per share of Rs-0.66 and Rs4.25 for FY20, as compared to Rs-0.47 and Rs6.82 in FY19, respectively.
The GAIL Board of Directors also approved the merger of the company within and into GVGL.
