Stock market ends dismal week on downward note

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday failed to regain control and ended a dismal week on a downward trajectory.

The benchmark KSE 100 index declined by 36.47 points (-0.11 percent) and closed at 33,267.69 points. The bourse increased by 190.31 points as trading resumed and eventually reached the highest level of 33,501.30 points. However, the bourse was unable to regain control and dropped in the red zone before trading was suspended. The total volume of shares dropped to 62.919 million valued at Rs3.113 billion.

Meanwhile, the KSE 30 index dipped by 14.68 (-0.10 percent) and closed at 14,619.70 points. The total volume of shares was 36.342 points. There share price of top activity stocks particularly UNITY (3.23%), MLCF (0.12%), HUMNL(8.64%), TRG (2.24%), SNGP(5.56%), FCCL (0.90%) and DOL (6.36%). The companies which saw a decline in share price include HASCOL (-0.07%), HBL (-0.64%) and PAEL (-0.22%).              

Bears seen have the upper hand at the stock market for the week because of looming uncertainty and lack of economic triggers. The government announced to lift lockdown restrictions from Saturday but it was sufficient for investors who resorted to profit booking.

There are concerns over the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) review on May 12 in which Pakistan is expected to be downgraded to frontier markets from the emerging markets category. The stock market failed to consolidate gains and ended the week on a downward note.