KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) failed to sustain the gains accumulated earlier in the day, as the indices kept changing directions before closing in the red.
Foreign investors remained net sellers in the previous session (Wednesday), with a net outflow of $1.34 million.
On the economic front, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has shown satisfaction over Pakistan’s compliance report. Pakistan now requires mustering up diplomatic support for its efforts to come out from grey list and land into the white as Islamabad needs 12 votes out of total 39.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index recorded its intraday high at 42,906.14 after accumulating 344.87 points. However, the index failed to maintain its strong position, stumbling to its intraday low at 42,439.68 (-121.59 points) later in the day. It settled lower by 54.32 points at 42,506.95. The KMI-30 Index declined by 147.87 points to close at 68,657.12, while the KSE All Share Index lost 105.11 points, ending at 29,456.52.
Sectors that drove the KSE 100 index south included tobacco (-31.61 points), power generation and distribution (-13.73 points) and automobile assembling (-13.51 points).
The overall market volumes improved from 177.98 million in the previous session to 230.83 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF +3.01pc), Worldcall Telecom (WTL +2.44pc) and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL +0.55pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 27.58 million, 16.50 million and 13.62 million shares, respectively.
On the market front, Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited (HCAR -5.49pc) reported a loss for the third quarter of FY20. The company’s sales saw a massive dip of 54pc YoY to Rs9.86 billion. It’s cumulative earnings per share now stand at Rs4.97.
The company’s market share has declined from 13.53pc in April 2019 to 8.85pc in Dec 2019.
