KARACHI:Â Bears dominated the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) today (Thursday), with the indices trading negative for the most part despite market volumes surging to record high.
The market touched yet another historic high volume on Thursday; although, the index also slid over 650 points despite a positive start.
 The market achieved a milestone on Wednesday by recording a trading volume of over 1 billion shares in the regular market (highest in 16 years, and 5th highest overall), whereby Worldcall contributed the most with 369 million shares. The last time one billion shares were traded was on February 23, 2005.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index endured a volatile session on Thursday, registering its intraday high at 46,935.32 (+291.03 points) and low at 45,960.44 (-683.85 points). It settled lower by 588.77 points at 46,055.52.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 646.33 points to end at 75,638.49, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 410.70 points, closing at 31,704.67. The overall market volumes inflated further from 1.01 billion shares in the previous session to 1.12 billion shares (+11pc).
The average traded value also increased by 30pc, from 171.6 million to $223.8 million. Worldcall Telecom Ltd (WTL -10.71pc) led the volume chart for the second consecutive session with 353.57 million shares exchanging hands, followed by Telecard Ltd (TELE -11.76pc) and K-Electric Ltd (KEL -4.63pc). The scrips had exchanged 97.50 million and 47.09 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included banking (-151.97 points), technology & communication (-89.99 points) and oil & gas exploration (-75.54 points). Among the companies, TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -65.14 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO -40.87 points), and Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -37.99 points) dented the index the most.
Shedding 4.08pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the technology & communication sector ended as the session’s worst performer, with NetSol Technologies Ltd (NETSOL -7.49pc), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTC -2.80pc) and Systems Ltd (SYS -2.63pc) ending in the negative.
Cherat Packaging Ltd (CPPL -0.43pc) announced earnings per share of Rs5.08 for 2QFY21 as compared to Rs0.39 in 2QFY20, whereas Engro Powergen Qadirpur Ltd (EPQL +0.58pc) declared an EPS of Rs6.42 for FY20 as against Rs10.51 in FY19.
on the other hand, Global equity markets displayed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices slipped lower from the previous close; WTI crude price falling 0.53pc to $58.37 while Brent crude price declining 0.57pc to $61.13 (as at 3:56 pm).
