KARACHI: A three-day buying spree ended at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday as investors booked profit in line with global market trends.
The reversal was attributed to world equity markets as investors continued to fret about the increasingly uncertain economic outlook.
Appreciation of local currency against the US dollar and optimism regarding the revival of stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme failed to entice market participants.
Earlier, trading began with a dip but optimistic investor sentiment helped the index rise in the early hours. However, the bourse succumbed to volatility later in the day and wiped out the gains towards the end.
Wednesday, the benchmark KSE-100 index shed 241.76 points, or 0.52%, to close at 46,165.50 points.
A report from Arif Habib Limited in its post-market commentary noted that a “volatile” session was observed at PSX Wednesday.
“The market opened on a bleak note but value buying was witnessed in the first trading hour,” it stated, adding that mainboard activity remained dull but the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third-tier stocks.
The brokerage house further mentioned that in the last trading hour, investors opted for profit-taking across the board which led the index to close in the red zone.
Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (-93 points), banks (-62.9 points), investment banks (-15.7 points), engineering (-15.5 points) and textile (-15.5 points).
Shares of 362 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 114 scrips closed in the green, 228 in the red, and 20 remained unchanged.
Overall trading volumes dropped to 474.58 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 493.59 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.35 billion.
Flying Cement was the volume leader with 80.73 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.87 to close at Rs9.67. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom Limited with 42.73 million shares traded, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs1.98 and Ghani Global Glass Holdings with 32.52 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.09 to close at Rs21.18. –Agencies
