PSX begins rollover week on a negative note

• Market sheds over 300 points in the absence of major positive triggers.
• A host of financial results announced during the day failed to entice market players.
• KSE-100 index sheds 0.69% to settle at 45,362.85 points.

KARACHI: Stocks at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) struggled to find a floor on the first day of the rollover week as bears took control of the market and the benchmark KSE-100 index endured another round of battering, falling over 300 points during the session.

The market receded gains on Monday in the absence of major positive triggers that could provide direction to the market.

A host of financial results announced during the day failed to entice market players, who refrained from taking fresh positions.

On the corporate announcement front, Meezan Bank disclosed its CY21 result where the bank posted earnings of Rs17.35, an improvement of 26% over year-on-year, along with the final cash dividend of Rs1.50, making a total cash payout of Rs6 for the calendar year.

“The aforesaid result was better than expected due to higher than anticipated Net Spread Earned and Free Commission Income,” Topline Securities noted.

In addition to this, Nishat Mills also declared its 1HFY22 accounts where earnings per share clocked in at Rs15.9 an improvement of 216% year-on-year. The company didn’t announce any payout with the result.

At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index shed 313.02 points, or 0.69%, to settle at 45,362.85 points.

Shares of 339 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 96 scrips closed in the green, 225 in the red, and 19 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 137.6 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 194.05 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.61 billion.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 19.08 million shares traded, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs1.85. It was followed by Hum Network Limited with 11.26 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.15 to close at Rs7.62, and K-Electric with 8.9 million shares traded, losing Rs0.18 to close at Rs3.30.