Bears hold sway as PSX sheds over 170 points

• Benchmark KSE-100 index settles at 46,716.72 points on Wednesday owing to economic uncertainty.
• Trading volume decreases from 479.8 million to 332.8 million shares.
• Shares of 518 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 161 stocks closed in the green, 329 in the red.

KARACHI: Bears maintained their control over the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, in line with the preceding session, as economic uncertainty fuelled selling pressure across the board.

The benchmark KSE-100 index, following a positive open, crawled downwards. However, some of the losses were wiped off later and bears and bulls continued to wrestle for control of the market in the rest of the session.

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the market continued the downtrend following the slippage in the rupee parity against the US dollar that deteriorated further to touch Rs169.70 (during intra-day) in the inter-bank market and crossed Rs170 in the open market.

“Unabated foreign selling coincided with local mutual funds disposing positions on the pretext of redemptions,” it said, adding that cement, exploration and production, oil and gas marketing companies, and refinery sectors bore the brunt of persistent selling.

Limited buying interest was observed in technology sector stocks which came down in the past couple of sessions.

The benchmark KSE-100 index fell 174.62 points or 0.37% on Wednesday, to close at 46,716.72 points.

Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (-83 points), textile (-22 points), pharma (-21 points), exploration and production (-20 points) and banks (+45 points).

During the session, shares of 518 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 161 stocks closed in the green, 329 in the red, and 28 remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, volumes declined from 479.8 million shares to 332.8 million shares (-31% day-on-day). Average traded value also dropped by 24% day-on-day to reach $67.6 million as against $88.9 million.

Individually, major gainers were UBL (+30 points), TRG Pakistan (+22 points), Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (+15 points), BAHL (+15 points) and Faysal Bank (+12 points).

On the flip side, major losers were Maple Leaf Cement (-21 points), Habib Metropolitan Bank (-18 points), Systems Limited (-17 points), AGP (-17 points) and Meezan Bank (-16 points).

TPL Corp was the volume leader with 29.6 million shares, gaining Rs1.68 to close at Rs24.67. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 28.3 million shares, losing Rs1.19 to close at Rs23.17, and Byco petroleum with 23.3 million shares, losing Rs0.11 to close at Rs8.97.