Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another red session on Monday amid lack of positive economic triggers, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 366.33 points (-0.77 percent) to close at 47,123.62 points.

The market opened on a positive note with a gain of 44 points and remained positive in the initial hours but it turned south amid profit-taking. The market has shed around 670 points in the last three sessions.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 571.8 points, showing an intraday high of 47,625.4 points and intraday low of 47,053.6 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 263.52 points (-0.81 percent) to close at 32,280.47 points, while All Share Islamic Index shed 210.28 points (-0.90 percent) to close at 23,060.95 points.

A total of 382 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 70 closed up, shares of 289 closed down while shares of 23 companies remained unchanged. Out of the 96 companies which traded shares in the KSE-100 Index, shares of 22 closed up, 70 closed down, while shares of four companies remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 162.44 million to 337.30 million shares. Total volume traded for the KSE-100 Index was 107.17 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 22,904 to 120,780; while the value traded decreased by Rs2.32 billion to Rs11.34 billion. Likewise, the market capitalisation decreased by Rs67.53 billion.

Among scripts, WTL led the volumes with 42.23 million shares, followed by FFL (17.4 million) and GGL (17.33 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WTL, FFL, GGL, BYCO and TELE, which formed over 31 percent of total volumes.

Sector wise, the index was let down by cement with 87 points, technology and communication with 69 points, power generation and distribution with 30 points, fertilizer with 29 points and oil and gas marketing companies with 25 points. The most points taken off the index were by TRG which stripped the index of 55 points followed by LUCK with 42 points, HUBC with 27 points, ENGRO with 24 points and GHGL with 17 points.

The sectors propping up the index were automobile parts and accessories with three points, closed–end mutual fund with two points and refinery with one point. The most points added to the index were by MCB which contributed 13 points followed by HMB with nine points, HINOON with four points, FCEPL with four points and ABOT with three points.

According to analysts, the market opened on a positive note as business and commercial activities shuffled back to normalcy amid the removal of lockdown implications in Sindh province. Nonetheless, the continuation of the prevailing virus spread in the country and concerns on rising current account deficit (CAD) and inflation on the back of possible tariff hike disrupted investors’ sentiment and exerted pressure at the bourse.

Therefore, with no additional positive trigger, the initial gains of the index were wiped off during the session, they said. The country faced a trade deficit of $3.104 billion in July 2021-22, up by 85.53 percent as compared to a deficit of $1.673 billion recorded in July 2020.