PSX ends another week on downward trend

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) held a volatile session on the last day of the week on Friday and ended the trading session on a negative note.

The benchmark KSE 100 index dropped 314.76 points and reached its lowest point at 37,259.17 points. The indices remain flat throughout the day and rebounded after mid-day trading. The bourse gained 248.86 points but could not retain the upward trajectory and eventually declined before trading was suspended.

The bench closed with a decline of 4.13 points at 37,574.08 points. The total volume of shares traded at the bourse were 189.683 billion valued at Rs8.489 billion.

The KSE 30 index gained just 17.06 points and closed at 16,304.50 points. The total volume of shares was 86.978 million. The KMI 30 index declined by 549.55 points and closed at 59,939.32 points, while the All-Share Index dropped by 56.03 points and closed at 26,706.53 points.

The market leader was Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY 1.35%) which traded 21.628 million shares. This was followed by K-Electric (KEL -1.85%), Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL 4.39%) and Hascol Petroleum (HASCOL -2.33%). The firms traded 16.837 million, 15.832 million, and 13.876 million shares respectively.

FFBL reports a loss of Rs 1.24 for the quarter fiscal year, while Honda Atlas reported that shales fell by 64%  on year-on-year bases pulling EPS down to negative Rs 3.58 as compared to Rs1.69.

The top contributor driving the KSE 100 index were commercial bank which contributed 266.23 million, while the refinery sector witnessed the largest change in market capitalization (-2.51%).

On the economic front, the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the current week recorded an increase of 0.21% over last week. This increase is mainly due to a rise in prices of food items.