KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) once again landed in the red after a respite yesterday with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing over 93 points on Wednesday (today).
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 93.24 points, or 0.21%, to settle at 45,306.54 points.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market traded in a narrow range of -174 points and +227 points. It closed the session in the red.
Sectors contributing to the performance included technology (+72 points), banks (+59 points), fertilizer (+18 points), cement (-76 points), exploration and production (-45 points) and engineering (-24 points).
Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included TRG Pakistan (+88 points), Engro Corporation (+37 points), NBP (+22 points), Kohinoor Textile Mills (+18 points) and Engro Fertilisers (+13 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively were Lucky Cement (-28 points), Fauji Fertiliser (-22 points), Pakistan Oilfields (-18 points), Oil and Gas Development Company (-16 points) and International Steels (-15 points).
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that the KSE-100 index oscillated between the low and high of 45,226 and 45,626 points, eventually closing down by 93 points at 45,306 as pressure mounted.
A total of 388 million shares were traded during the day where TRG Pakistan (+5%), WorldCall Telecom (-6.9%), Unity Foods (-0.2%), Ghani Global Holdings (-0.7%) and Telecard Limited (+7.8%) were the volume leaders.
Maple Leaf Cement Factory (-2.6%) from the cement sector announced its 9MFY21 result, reporting consolidated earnings per share of Rs2.59. Moreover, Avanceon (+0.1%) announced full-year earnings of Rs4.82 per share for CY20 alongside a 10% cash dividend and 20% bonus issue. From the technology sector, TRG Pakistan (+5%) outperformed, closing higher than its previous day’s close.
However, cement and refinery sectors came under selling pressure as Power Cement (-3.5%), Maple Leaf Cement (-2.6%), Pioneer Cement (-1.6%), National Refinery (-3.2%), Pakistan Refinery (-1.6%) and Attock Refinery (-2.6%) closed in the red.
