KARACHI: After a range-bound session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) finished on a negative note on Tuesday due to the country’s ongoing political uncertainty.
The benchmark KSE-100 index crossed the 43,000 psychological level during the session to reach 43,035.10 points intra-day high but failed to hold this level due to selling pressure and fell into the red zone to reach 42,742.75 points intra-day low.
The KSE-100 index finished at 42,796.85 points, a loss of 53.98 points or 0.13 percent.
Total daily trading volumes were 188.664 million shares, up from 185.537 million shares traded on Monday, while the total daily traded value on the ready counter increased to Rs 7.411 billion, up from Rs 6.017 billion the previous session.
The BRIndex100 closed at 4,313.18 points, down 6.8 points or 0.16 percent, with a total daily turnover of 165.067 million shares.
The BRIndex30 fell 136.57 points, or 0.83 %, to close at 16,299.40 points, with 115.334 million shares traded daily. On the other hand, foreign investors were net buyers of shares worth $371,985. Total market capitalization fell by 7 billion rupees to Rs 6.861 trillion. Out of the total 350 active scrips, 174 closed in the negative, 156 in the positive, and 20 remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical gained Rs 0.33 to close at Rs 31.09 with 17.834 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom, which lost Rs 0.04 to finish at Rs 1.51 with 14.325 million shares with 12.400 million shares traded, TRG Pak, fell Rs 5.33 to Rs 140.84.
Thal Ind Corp and Shield Corp were among the top gainers, rising by Rs 14.99 and Rs 10.00 to close at Rs 288.99 and Rs 260.00, respectively, and Sanofi-Aventis and Sapphire Fiber were the top losers, falling by Rs 90.00 and Rs 80.00 to close at Rs 1160.00 and 1020.00, respectively.
According to an analyst at Arif Habib Limited, the PSX experienced a range-bound session. Due to political uncertainty, the market opened in the red zone, but later, investors returned, helping the index reach an intraday high of 184.95 points. On the other hand, profit-taking was observed in the final hours of trading, resulting in the index closing in red. Investor participation remained low, with third-tier stocks leading in terms of volume.
The shares of technology and communication were down by 58.6 points; power generation and distribution by 16.8 points; cement by 16.0 points; and Vanaspati & Allied Industries by 16.0 points.
The BR oil and gas index rose 27.49 points or 0.7 %, to close at 3,941.11 points on 33.376 million shares. The BR Tech & Comm Index fell 78.03 points, or 1.65 percent, to 4,637.74 points with 39.324 million shares traded.
According to Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation, stocks closed lower on economic uncertainty and concerns about a surging default risk (CDS) index nearing 64.2 percent, indicating a likely default. Early session support remained focused on the UK’s removal from the High-Risk Third Countries list following FATF’s exit from the grey list and the likely receipt of G7 financial assistance from Global Shield funds.
He attributed the bearish close to falling foreign exchange reserves, rupee volatility, and a likely mini-budget ahead of the IMF review.
