Daily Times

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) snapped the five-day winning streak on Wednesday amid high inflationary data, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 322.10 points (-0.75 percent) to close at 42,756.04 points. The market opened on a sharp negative note; however, the indices switched between the red and green territories for the first two-hour trading and then succumbed to the selling pressure. The session remained low-volume.

Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to a nearly two-and-a-half-year-high at 13.76 percent in May on the back of increasing transport and food prices. Inflation accelerated from 13.37 percent year-on-year (YoY) in April, marking a 0.44 percent month-on-month (MoM) rise in May. The higher inflationary figures shook the investors’ confidence who preferred to remain on the sidelines.

The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 425.26 points, showing an intraday high of 43,148.77 points and a low of 42,723.51 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 94.96 points (-0.32 percent) to close at 29,215.55 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 106.04 points (-0.5 percent) to close at 20,998.87 points.

A total of 350 companies traded shares in the stock exchange compared to 362 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 108 closed up, shares of 212 closed down while shares of 30 companies remained unchanged. A total of 95 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index as compared to 91 a session earlier, out of which 22 closed up, 69 closed down and four remained unchanged.

The overall market volumes decreased by 90.95 million to 194.40 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 54.16 million to 68.31 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 7,333 to 81,467, while the value traded decreased by Rs2.04 billion to Rs5.35 billion. Overall market capitalisation decreased by Rs23.12 billion.

Among scrips, SILK topped the volumes with 24.63 million shares, followed by UNITY (14.1 million) and GGL (13.5 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included SILK, UNITY, GGL, PRL and FFL, which formed over 37 percent of total volumes. In terms of rupee, RMPL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs330 (+3.4 percent) per share, closing at Rs10,030. The runner-up remained NESTLE, the share price of which climbed up by Rs70 (+1.23 percent) to Rs5,780. BATA remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs49.99 (-2.63 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,850, followed by ISIL, the share price of which fell by Rs33.74 (-6.63 percent) to close at Rs475.11 per share.

The sectors taking the index towards south were power generation & distribution (68 points), commercial banks (66 points), cement (55 points), technology & communication (41 points) and oil & gas exploration companies (32 points). The most points taken off the index were by HUBC (61 points), UBL (36 points), FFC (26 points), HBL (25 points) and SYS (24 points).

The sectors taking the index towards north were fertilizer (11 points), automobile assembler (9 points), pharmaceuticals (7 points), leather & tanneries (3 points) and paper & board (one point). The most points added to the index were by EFERT (41 points), MARI (24 points), MTL (17 points), ABOT (16 points) and COLG (8 points).