KARACHI: Share prices tumbled on Friday as investors resorted to profit-taking on the last day of the rollover week in which futures contracts are either settled or rolled over to the next month.
The first part of the trading session consisted of dull activity although the index opened in the green zone, said Arif Habib Ltd.
However, the second half of the trading saw investors opt for profit-taking, which hammered share prices and led the index to close in the red zone.
JS Global said the equity market remained under pressure throughout the day owing to rising political uncertainty and damages caused by flash floods. “Going forward, we recommend investors should avail any downside as an opportunity to buy technology and banking stocks,” it added.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,591.51 points, down 441.06 points or 1.02 per cent from a day ago.
The trading volume increased 27.7pc to 265.8 million shares while the traded value went up 16.1pc to $40.9m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (50.61m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (16.78m shares), Pak Elektron Ltd (13.09m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (12.43m shares) and WorldCall Telecom Ltd (9.87m shares).
Sectors contributing to the index performance included banking (-85.5 points), technology (-64 points), oil marketing (-61.1 points), exploration and production (-48.3 points) and cement (-37.7 points).
Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs125.12), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs52.10), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs34.99), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs30) and Good Luck Industries Ltd (Rs25.25).
Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Millat Tractors Ltd (Rs24.66), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs23.99), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs14.16), Packages Ltd (Rs12.62) and Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (Rs10.94).
Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.84m.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2022
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