KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday witnessed a volatile session and in the end, the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 126.28 points.
Owing to tepid investor sentiments, the KSE-100 saw a range-bound session with gains in the first half and losses in the final one. Resultantly, at close, the KSE-100 closed 126.28 points or 0.31% lower to settle at 40,150.36.
Automobile, cement, fertiliser and oil sector stocks witnessed modest selling pressure but the banking space closed mixed with a few scrips recording a rise and others reporting a fall.
A report from Capital Stake stated that “failing to carry forward the positive trend from previous session, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed Friday in red”.
On a weekly basis, the KSE-100 index gained 0.18% as political noise related to Punjab CM election dominated the news flow and pressure on Pakistan rupee amid payments and ambiguity surrounding external account kept investors on the sidelines.
Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 upwards included banking (158.01 points), technology and communication (96.16 points) and oil and gas marketing (61.01 points).
Volume on the all-share index fell to 170.27 million from 251.27 million on Thursday. Similarly, the value of shares traded dropped to Rs6.31 billion from Rs9.35 billion recorded in the previous session.
Unity Foods was the volume leader with 13.9 million shares, followed by Lotte Chemical with 9.97 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 8.7 million shares.
Shares of 312 companies were traded on Friday, of which 108 registered an increase, 179 recorded a fall, and 25 remained unchanged.
