Daily Times

Stocks extended their losses for the second day at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday, as rising fear over fresh rounds of Covid lockdown restrained the index.

On Thursday , the benchmark KSE-100 opened on a positive note and touched intra-day high at 45,496.82 level after gaining 190.28 points. However, paring early gains the index reversed its trajectory and clocked at 45,929.61 index level by the closing bell after posting a 376.93 points loss.

During the session the market was gripped with fears of rising Covid cases, after the Federal Minister for Planning and Development and the Chief of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar on issued a warning and said that if the coronavirus situation continues to worsen in the country, the government will be compelled to impose more restrictions, which dampened investors’ confidence.

The market also witnessed selling pressure during the trading session owing to upcoming rollover week.

On the result front, the United Bank Limited, Bank Al Falah Limited, Shell Pakistan Limited Kohinoor Textile Mills Limited posted robust earnings which also affected the investors’ trading strategy.

During the session Market Capital decreased by Rs.65.20 billion, while total value traded also decreased by 3.45 billion to Rs.15.89 billion.

The volume at KSE-100 was recorded at 139 million shares, whereas the all-share volume clocked in at about 328 million shares.

The volume chart was led by Ghani Global Limited followed by TRG Pakistan and World Call telecom Limited. The scrips exchanged 36.37 million, 30.21 million and 26.89 million shares, respectively.

According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) foreign investors were net sellers of $0.54 million worth of equities. Among local investors, Companies and Mutual Funds led the selling chart, which offloaded $5.1 million, $3.2 million worth of equities.

However, the Individuals and Banks led the buying chart and mopped up $6.5 million and $1.4 million worth of equities.

During the session, sectors which dented the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 94 points, Cement with 79 points, Textile Composite with 55 points, Technology & Communication with 45 points and Automobile Assembler with 34 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by Oil & Gas Development Company Limited which stripped the index of 40 points followed by Muslim Commercial Bank with 29 points, Pakistan Petroleum Limited with 26 points, Systems Limited with 25 points and Lucky Cement Limited with 20 points.

However, the sectors which lifted the index were Commercial Banks with 88 points and Fertilizer with 15 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by United Bank Limited which contributed 56 points followed by Habib Bank Limited with 46 points, ENGRO with 27 points, Bank Al Falah Limited with 11 points and Bank Al Habib Limited with 8 points.