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KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday witnessed another volatile session, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index ending the session 0.33% lower ahead of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) monetary policy announcement tomorrow.
Mixed expectations about the central bank’s policy rate announcement sparked volatility with low investor participation resulting in thin volumes. Moreover, the rising COVID-19 cases affected the investment climate negatively as investors resorted to profit booking.
The market opened on a bleak note, recoding its intra-day low at 45,693.80 and intra-day high at 46,002.77. At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 index sheds 153.05 points, or 0.33%, to close at 45,763.20 points.
Sectors contributing to the performance included technology and communication (-50.4 points), cement (-33.8 points), tobacco (-14.3 points), pharmaceutical (-12 points) and vanaspati (-11 points).
Shares of 353 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 135 scrips closed in the green, 196 in the red, and 22 remained unchanged.
Overall trading volumes plunged to 327.6 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 514.38 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.48 billion.
Cynergyico PK Limited was the volume leader with 74.07 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.43 to close at Rs7.31. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom Limited with 47.8 million shares traded, remaining unchanged at Rs2.53, and Hascol Petroleum with 23.39 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.20 to close at Rs7.11.
