KARACHI: Investors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another tug of war between bulls and bears on Friday, with the indices swaying both ways in search of a direction before closing in the red.
Global equity markets also showed a negative pattern, whereas crude oil prices slipped further from the previous close; WTI crude price falling 1.00pc to $57.65 while Brent crude oil price dropping 0.79pc to $60.66 (as at 4:54pm PST).
“Reminiscent of yesterday, the market continued to remain under selling pressure, which was particularly evident in E&P, O&GMCs and banking sectors. The cement sector, however, continued with the uptrend, with DGKC, LUCK, PIOC moving up, helping the index post gains in early trade,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index endured a volatile session on Friday, registering its intraday high at 46,358.08 (+302.56 points) and low at 45,731.88 (-323.64 points). It settled lower by 247.16 points at 45,808.36.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 167.72 points to end at 75,470.77, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 151.98 points, closing at 31,552.69.
The overall market volumes contracted from 1.12 billion shares in the previous session to 442.55 million shares (-61pc). Average traded value also declined by 41pc, from $224.1 million to $131.7 million. Worldcall Telecom (WTL -7.95pc), Telecard Ltd (TELE -7.40pc) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -0.20pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 58.59 million, 37.83 million and 17.99 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark index lower included banking (-114.38 points), oil & gas exploration (-109.00 points) and power generation & distribution (-63.53 points). Among the companies, Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -42.00 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (-40.23 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -37.02 points) dented the index the most.
Shedding 2.04pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas exploration sector ended as the session’s worst performer, with OGDC (-2.55pc), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (POL -2.88pc) and Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL -1.50pc) ending in the negative.
