PSX ends volatile trading session on negative note

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

The benchmark KSE-100 remained in the red for the most part, recording its intraday low at 40,126.80 after dropping 413.90 points. It settled lower by 353.52 points at 40,187.18.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 507.75 points to end at 64,009.77, while the KSE All Share Index lost 157.66 points, closing at 28,273.86. The overall market volumes inched up from 188.55 million shares in the previous session to 189.79 million shares.

The average traded value, however, declined from $50 million to $47.1 million. Unity Foods Ltd (UNITY +1.67pc), TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -3.96pc) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (MLCF -3.47pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 39.72 million, 14.17 million and 10.12 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included banking (-90.99 points), cement (-63.13 points) and investment banking (-52.47 points). Among the companies, Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (DAWH -51.37 points), United Bank Ltd (UBL -28.60 points) and Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK -25.69 points) dented the index the most.

Shedding 1.61pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas marketing sector turned out to be the session’s biggest loser, with Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGP -3.73pc), Shell Pakistan Ltd (SHEL -2.03pc), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -1.53pc) and Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (PSO -1.03pc) closing in the negative.

On the other hand, global equity markets displayed a positive trend, whereas crude oil prices also moved north from the previous close; WTI oil price appreciating 0.67pc to $42.18 while Brent crude price rising 0.88pc to $44.61.