Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed almost flat in a volatile session amid profit-taking activity on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 6.5 points (-0.01 percent) to close at 45,881.13 points.

The market opened on a positive note and crossed the psychological level of 46,000 points ark during the first 10 minutes of the session, mainly due to payment of around Rs100 billion by the government to the independent power producers (IPPs). However, soon after the benchmark index hit the 46,000 mark, the market turned to profit-taking activity, which continued till the end of the session and the market switched between the green and red territories.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 533.01 points, showing an intraday low of 46,057.24 points and a high of 45,524.23 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 15.36 points (-0.05 percent) to close at 31,344.21 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 84.85 points (-0.38 percent) to close at 22,454.84 points.

A total of 368 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 185 closed up, shares of 162 closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged. Out of 96 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 47 closed up, 46 closed down and three remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 17.87 million to 339.10 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 24.66 million to 102.28 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 6,025 to 128,989, while the value traded decreased by Rs2.12 billion to Rs9.75 billion. Overall market capitalisation decreased by Rs3.85 billion.

Among scrips, WTL topped the volumes with 44.68 million shares, followed by HASCOL (33.12 million) and UNITYR3 (22.5 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included WTL, HASCOL, UNITYR3, TRG, and HUMNL, which formed around 40 percent of total volumes.

The sectors taking the index towards south were cement with 31 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 28 points, technology & communication with 20 points, power generation & distribution with 10 points and tobacco with 10 points. The most points taken off the index were by SYS which stripped the index of 48 points followed by ENGRO with 22 points, LUCK with 18 points, HUBC with 11 points and OGDC with 10 points.

The sectors taking the index towards north were commercial banks with 84 points, food & personal care products with 12 points, textile composite with 10 points, chemical with 6 points and automobile assembler with 5 points. The most points added to the index were by HBL which contributed 32 points followed by MCB with 28 points, TRG with 23 points, UBL with 11 points and EFERT with 10 points.

In terms of rupee, NESTLE witnessed a maximum increase of Rs140 per share, closing at Rs5,690 whereas the runner-up was GIL, the share price of which climbed up by Rs36.54 to Rs523.79. SFL witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs65 per share, the second massive drop in value in two days, closing at Rs851, followed by SAPT, the share price of which declined by Rs33.8 to close at Rs860.2 per share.

According to a market closing note by Aba Ali Habib, local indices remained flat as selling pressure was witnessed in refinery and cement scrips. Moreover, the delay in the approval of the Finance (Supplementary) Bill also dented the investors’ confidence, it added.