Pakistan Stock Exchange Thursday dropped in deep red due to panic selling on investor concern over geopolitical and economic issues. BRIndex100 lost 58.08 points or 1.81 percent to close at 3,146.78 points on Thursday. BRIndex100 touched intraday high of 3,226.09 and intraday low of 3,139.09 points. Volumes stood at 107.061 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 449.09 points or 2.71 percent to close at 16,110.10 points with a turnover of 68.194 million shares. The KSE-100 Index declined by 478.75 points or 1.56 percent to close at 30,158.96 points. Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 118.586 million shares as compared to 149.013 million shares traded Wednesday.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $1.0 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 106 billion to Rs 6.123 trillion. Out of total 338 active scrips, 250 closed in negative, only 74 in positive while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 15.128 million shares. It lost Re 0.13 to close at Rs 15.93 followed by K-Electric that closed at Rs 3.22, down Rs 0.16 with 5.132 million shares.
Blessed Textile and EFU Life were the top gainers with Rs 12.23 and Rs 10.00, respectively to close at Rs 257.22 and Rs 213.00. Colgate Palmolive and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers with Rs 86.55 and Rs 73.00, respectively to close at Rs 1,670.00 and Rs 5,800.00.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 42.87 points or 0.88 percent to close at 4,801.77 points with a turnover of 2.061 million shares. BR Cement Index declined by 83.43 points or 2.97 percent to close at 2,723.29 points with 10.002 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index plunged by 113.26 points or 1.54 percent to close at 7,234.80 points with 7.315 million shares. BR Power Generation and Distribution Index decreased by 63.56 points or 1.48 percent to close at 4,222.53 points with 6.513 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index closed at 3,206.45 points, down 115.38 points or 3.47 percent with 10.317 million shares. BR Tech. & Comm. Index fell by 14.16 points or 2.15 percent to close at 645.15 points with 9.013 million shares. "Quite an eventful day it was, from divestment of GOP's stakes in OGDC and PPL to resolution of GIDC issue for Fertilizer Sector and HASCOL's result announcement," an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said.
He said reiteration of GOP's intent to divest shares of OGDC (7 percent) and PPL (10 percent) with a host of other transactions in bank and power sector, caused selling pressure in both OGDC and PPL, which by the end of the session resulted in PPL hitting lower circuit, whereas OGDC also saw activity near lower circuit.
For good part of the session, the index saw oscillation of plus 171 points and minus 250 points, including the episode of resolution of GIDC issue that is considered mainly positive for the fertilizer sector, he said. Resultantly, FFC and FFBL hit upper circuits but saw selling pressure at Market on Close (MOC). HASCOL also announced results that caused investors to sell at lower circuit. Selling pressure mounted by the end of session.
Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (down 156 points), Banks (down 132 points), Cement (down 59 points), O&GMCs (down 41 points), Power (down 38 points) and Fertilizer (up 73 points).
Stocks that contributed positively include FFC (up 67 points), EFERT (up 13 points), DAWH (up 12 points), FFBL (up 6 points) and FATIMA (up 4 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include OGDC (down 70 points), PPL (down 65 points), HBL (down 40 points), UBL (down 27 points) and LUCK (down 26 points).