KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with bearish trend in another low-volume session on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 104.79 points (-0.23 percent) to close at 45,507.41 points.
The market opened on a positive note but remained volatile due to the rising number of Omicron cases and surging crude oil prices. The market switched between the green and red territories and remained positive for most part of the session except for the last one hour trading, which eroded all the gains of the day.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 288.64 points, showing an intraday low of 45,469.46 points and a high of 45,758.10 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 75.07 points (-0.24 percent) to close at 31,159.16 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 0.26 points (-0 percent) to close at 22,439.33 points.
A total of 357 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 135 closed up, shares of 200 closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged. Out of 95 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 33 closed up, 58 closed down and four remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 8.36 million to 165.14 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased by 6.97 million to 78.60 million shares. The number of total trades increased by 7,697 to 92,640, while the value traded increased by Rs1.46 billion to Rs7.56 billion. Overall, market capitalisation decreased by Rs18.80 billion.
Among scrips, TRG topped the volumes with 20.69 million shares, followed by WTL (17.67 million) and HUBC (8.15 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TRG, WTL, HUBC, TELE, and CNERGY, which formed over 37 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs409 per share, closing at Rs20,899 whereas the runner-up was NESTLE, the share price of which climbed up by Rs90 to Rs5,500. BATA remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs99.9 per share, closing at Rs2,000, followed by ISIL, the share price of which declined by Rs39 to close at Rs486 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were cement with 55 points, commercial banks (39 points), power generation & distribution (27 points), technology & communication (24 points) and textile composite (11 points). The most points taken off the index were by HUBC which stripped the index of 26 points followed by LUCK (22 points), BAHL (19 points), CHCC (13 points) and SCBPL (12 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were oil & gas exploration companies with 50 points, fertilizer (15 points), refinery (6 points), oil & gas marketing companies (4 points) and glass & ceramics (3 points). The most points added to the index were by POL which contributed 30 points followed by ENGRO (23 points), PPL (11 points), MCB (9 points) and OGDC (6 points).
According to experts, the market remained range-bound, as investors remained risk-averse due to the rising number of Covid-19’s new variant Omicron cases in the country and higher international oil prices.
They said that profit-taking was witnessed in the last trading hour. They said that it is the accumulation phase. They said that volumes remained low, which shows that the market may recover; however, they ruled out any strong rally in the near-term.
