KARACHI: After trading in the green for almost the entire session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell flat in the last hour amid selling pressure.
Equity markets around the world displayed a mixed trend, whereas crude oil prices moved north from the previous close; WTI crude price rising 0.36pc to $47.16 while Brent crude price increasing 0.28pc to $50.43.
“The stock market added around 450 points during the session today before facing the selling pressure that eroded all gains and took the index down by almost 150 points,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read. “Exploration & production and cement sectors mostly contributed to the downside of index, despite oil prices maintaining yesterday’s level.”
MARKET SUMMARY
The benchmark KSE-100 Index remained in the green for the most part, recording its intraday high at 43,709.71 after gaining 443.49 points. The index, however, lost momentum later in day and fell to its low at 43,126.48 (-139.74 points. It finally settled lower by 15.38 points at 43,250.84.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index dropped 317.16 points to end at 70,324.46, whereas the KSE All Share Index gathered 59.65 points, closing at 30,313.95.
The overall market volumes surged from 629.33 million shares in the previous session to 701.91 million shares (+12pc). Average traded value also increased by 11pc, from $164.7 million to $182.3 million. Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL -6.38pc), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL +0.38pc) and Azgard Nine Ltd (ANL +1.40pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 64.43 million, 62.84 million and 42.66 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark to the red zone included cement (-67.53 points), oil & gas exploration (-64.36 points) and power generation & distribution (-49.69 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -46.01 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK -41.66 points) and Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL -32.57 points) dented the index the most.
Losing 4.24pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the refinery sector ended as the session’s worst performer, with Byco Petroleum Pakistan Ltd (BYCO -4.42pc), Attock Refinery Ltd (ATRL -6.78pc) and Pakistan Refinery Ltd (-6.38pc) posting significant losses.
