Daily Times

Bears continued a slow rout at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as investors continued to struggle owing to weak economic indicators and Covid-19 fears. On Friday, after swinging both ways the benchmark kse-100 index lost another 127.15 points by the closing bell to clock at 44,300.95 level.

On Friday, the market witnessed a directionless trade as pessimism over the economic situation and renewed lockdown restrictions continued selling pressure at the bourse.

Although investors did showed some appreciation over the news that Pakistan exports increased to a ten-year high at $2.345 billion during March and appreciation of Rupee, which has led the chart of the world’s best-performing currencies in the first three months of CY21 as it closed on a stronger note with an appreciation of 4.43% against the US Dollars.

But, market analysts believe that the leverage positions in technology and refinery stocks were continuously causing selling pressure in the market, whereby declining prices of pertinent stocks made the investors revisit their earlier investment decisions. Netsol Technology hit its lower circuit while Attock and National refineries also ended on heavy losses during the session.

During the session, the benchmark KSE-100 Index registered its intraday low at 44,197.90 level after it lost 230 points, and intra-day high at 44,609.28 after it gained 181.18 points.

The volume at Kse-100 receded from 186.64 million shares recorded in the previous session to 140.76million shares, while the all-share volume also decreased from 313.51 million shares recorded in the previous session to 266.85 million shares.

Market Capital decreased by Rs.11.32 Billion, while total value traded decreased by 3.05 Billion to Rs.14.38 Billion.

The volume chart was led by TRG Pakistan Limited followed by Pakistan Refinery Limited and Unity Foods Limited. The scrips exchanged 22.93 million, 15.41 million and 14 million shares, respectively.

According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) foreign investors were net sellers of $1.84 million worth of equities.

Among local investors, Insurance Companies and Brokers led the selling chart and offloaded $2.79 million and $1.39 million worth of equities.

However, Individuals and Companies led the buying chart and mopped up $3.9 million and $1.8 million worth of equities.

During the session, sectors which dented the index were Technology & Communication with 56 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 33 points, Textile Composite with 23 points, Investment Banks with 19 points and Tobacco with 17 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by TRG Pakistan which stripped the index of 42 points followed by Pakistan Oilfields Limited with 22 points, Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited with 18 points, Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited with 17 points and Systems Limited with 13 points.

However, sectors which continued to lift the index were Cement with 40 points, Chemical with 17 points, Automobile Assembler with 14 points, Food & Personal Care Products with 5 points and Insurance with 4 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Colgate Pakistan Limited which contributed 20 points followed by Lucky Cement limited with 17 points, Fauji Cement Company Limited with 14 points, ENGRO with 10 points and Habib Bank Limited with 10 points.