Daily Times

Bulls took a respite on the last trading day of the week as investors booked profit with the indices accumulating losses amid narrow range trading. On Friday Pakistan stock exchange benchmark kse-100 index lost 165 points by the session’s closing to clock at 42,023 index level.

On Friday, the index witnessed a lackluster day, which followed record breaking volumes in the previous week which lifted index past 42,000 mark. Moreover, despite losing 0.39% on the day, the index managed to gain 2.35% during the outgoing week.

During the week the investors cheered the global appreciation of Pakistan Stock Exchange following a report released by the New York-based global financial markets research firm marketcurrentswealthnet.com, which said Pakistan’s stock market (has become) the best performer in Asia and the fourth best-performing stock market in the world. In a brief under the title “Denmark and Pakistan: the surprising stock markets that outperformed in 2020”, New York based firm said PSX benchmark KSE-100 index has given a return on investment of 38.5% in dollar terms as foreign capital has been flowing into the market after the yield on the nation’s bond fell below double digits.

On Friday, KSE-100 started the day on a negative note, losing 264.43 points to touch its intraday low at 41,923.68, however, it managed to recover the lost ground later in the day, marking its intraday high at 42,291.92 after gaining 103.81 points. The selling pressure was primarily observed in cement, fertiliser, exploration & production and banking stocks, however some steel and tech stocks managed to record gains. The index volumes dipped from 540.76 million shares in the previous session to 417.31 million shares, while the overall market volumes also plunged from 919 million shares recorded in the previous session to 758.08 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Hascol Petroleum Limited, followed by Fauji Foods Limited and Unity Foods Limited. The scrips exchanged 73.16 million, 51.66 million and 41.35 million shares, respectively.

Sectors which drove down the index were Commercial Banks with 60 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 59 points, Cement with 32 points, Fertilizer with 20 points and Textile Composite with 15 points. Among the scrips, most points taken off the index was by Hub Power Company Limited which stripped the index of 53 points followed by United Bank Limited with 26 points, Lucky Cement Limited with 22 points, TRG Pakistan with 14 points and ENGRO with 13 points.

However, sectors which lifted the index were Engineering with 21 points, Technology & Communication with 14 points, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 9 points, Insurance with 8 points and Glass & Ceramics with 5 points. Among the scrips, most points added to the index was by Systems Limited which contributed 31 points followed by Hascol Petroleum Limited with 20 points, International Steels Limited with 12 points, Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited with 11 points.

Global markets: Global stocks ran out of steam on the last trading on Friday after U.S stocks tanked the most in three months on Thursday as investors sold off high-flying tech stocks.

Stocks fell once again on Friday as a sell-off in tech, the best-performing market sector in 2020, continued for a second consecutive day. During the early trade, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 581 points, while the tech heavy index Nasdaq Composite lost over 430 points. The S&P 500 was also headed towards recording huge loses, declining 2.9%. Among the major tech stocks , Apple shares led the losses, which dropped 8% followed by Facebook which slid 6.6%. Amazon and Netflix also slid 7.4% and 7%, respectively. In Asia, stocks plunged across the board taking cues from Wall Street’s retreat, with major markets recording losses.