Daily Times

Stock market continued to descend amid losing momentum, as investors continue to react to key policy rate announcement by State Bank of Pakistan. The bourse was pulled down by a selling spree led by foreign investors, as today’s selling clocked at an accumulated value of $1.7 million meanwhile banks and mutual funds also joined the selling bandwagon, each selling $1.8 million and $ 1.1milion worth of equities.

Index lost 1002.09 points or 2.35 percent over the week. However, the index gained 896 points or 2.20 percent in the month of January. The Index traded in a range of 578.79 points or 1.38 percent of previous close, showing an intraday high of 42,137.59 and a low of 41,558.80.The index closed lower by 272 points to close at 41,630 level.

Of the 95 traded companies in the KSE100 Index 26 closed up 66 closed down, while 3 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 140.34 million shares. The KMI-30 Index declined by 603.98 points to finish at 67,075.02, while the KSE All Share Index was down by 55.99 points, settling at 29,067.54.

All Share Volume increased by 31.63 Million to 193.87 Million Shares. Market Cap decreased by Rs.16.88 Billion. Total companies traded were 346 compared to 349 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 123 closed up, 211 closed down while 12 remained unchanged.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Commercial Banks with 120 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 100 points, Cement with 46 points, Textile Composite with 9 points and Chemical with 9 points.

The most points taken off the index was by Pakistan Petroleum Limited which stripped the index of 38 points followed by United Bank Limited with 31 points, Lucky Cement Limited with 30 points, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited with 28 points and Habib Bank Limited with 27 points.

Sectors that tried to square the index were Tobacco with adding 32 points, Technology & Communication with 13 points, Transport with 4 points, Insurance with 4 points and Engineering with 1 points. Among the companies most points added to the index was by Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited which contributed 28 points followed by Hascol Petroleum Limited with 12 points, Systems Limited with 12 points, Murree Brewery Company Limited with 10 points and International Steels Limited with 5 points.

Meanwhile, Government of Pakistan has retired an additional sum of Rs.3.13 billion during the week ended January 24, 2020, which brings its total net retirement for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.95.01 billion. As of prior week, the government had retired a net sum of Rs.91.87 billion.