Daily Times

Following a short-lived recovery in the previous session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the market was in jitters on Wednesday owing to heavy selling pressure by the foreign investors, as benchmark KSE-100 index lost 451.12 points by the closing bell and breached 43,000 level.

Investors once again were in frenzy, as selling pressure in index heavy-weight stocks weighed on sentiments. On Wednesday, the index opened positive, following previous session’s gains, and touched intra-day high at 44,571.91 after it gained 167.91 points. However, reversing the earlier gains, the index entered negative territory and lost 646.65 points to touch intra-day low at 43,758.05 level.

The sell-off was primarily led by foreign investors, which offloaded $10.82 million worth of stocks, as they booked- profit in stocks on elevated levels achieved in yesterday’s close.

The volume at KSE-100 slightly improved from 157.97 million shares recorded in the previous session to 195.15 million shares, while the all-share volume also increased from 305 million shares recorded in the previous session to 370 million shares.

Market Capital decreased by Rs.64.49 billion, while total value traded increased by 4.27 billion to Rs.20.34 billion.

The volume chart was led by TRG Pakistan Limited followed by Dost Steels Limited and Azgard Nine Limited. The scrips exchanged 38.33 million, 30.34 million and 22.93 million shares, respectively.

According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) among local investors, Individuals, Banks, Mutual Funds led the buying chart and mopped up $3.5 million and $3 million, $1.33 and $1.32 million worth of equities.

During the session, sectors which dented the index were Commercial Banks with 183 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 103 points, Fertilizer with 98 points, Automobile Assembler with 37 points and Power Generation & Distribution with 31 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Habib Bank Limited which stripped the index of 55 points followed by ENGRO with 52 points, Bank Al Habib Limited with 46 points, Oil & Gas Development Company Limited with 44 points and Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited with 35 points.

However, the sectors which lifted the index were Cement with 34 points, Insurance with 29 points, Engineering with 21 points, Glass & Ceramics with 6 points and Chemical with 4 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by Lucky Cement Limited which contributed 39 points followed by Adamjee Insurance Company Limited with 15 points, TRG Pakistan with 12 points, EFU General Insurance Limited with 11 points and International Steels Limited with 11 points.