KARACHI: Bears returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index failed to hold on to early gains and ended in the negative.
Global equity markets, on the other hand, showed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices slipped lower from the previous close; WTI crude price falling 3.33pc to $37.48 while Brent crude price declining 2.88pc to $39.76.
“After posting some gains early in the session, courtesy US elections and spike in commodity prices, the index showed signs of consolidation by making a downward adjustment. Selling pressure was observed across the board, especially banks and exploration & production stocks,” said a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd.
Despite a positive start to the day, the KSE-100 Index remained in the red for almost the entire session, touching its intraday low at 40,679.61 (-391.69 points). It settled lower by 339.69 points at 40,731.61.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index dropped 578.29 points to end at 40,731.61, while the KSE All Share Index fell 181.12 points, settling at 28,667.51.
The overall market volumes decreased from 356.59 million shares in the previous session to 349.57 million shares. Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +2.92pc), Power Cement Ltd (POWER +5.99pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +7.48pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 48.30 million, 43.59 million and 31.25 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark to the red zone included banking (-125.17 points), oil & gas exploration (-47.73 pts) and fertilizer (-46.39 points). Among the companies, Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -50.20 points), MCB Bank Ltd (MCB -32.12 points) and United Bank Ltd (UBL -26.30 points) dented the index the most.
Shedding 1.18pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the automobile assembling sector turned out to the session’s worst performer, with Indus Motor Company Ltd (INDU -1.57pc), Atlas Honda Ltd (ATLH -1.60pc) and Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd (HCAR -1.10pc) ending in the red.
