KARACHI: The winning streak of major shares came to a halt on Monday amid selling pressure on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

Topline Securities Ltd said bulls took a hit after having a massive show of strength for the last six consecutive days.

Trading witnessed strong selling headwinds right after the opening bell rang with investors opting for profit-taking across the board. The selling spree pushed the benchmark below the 66,000-point mark temporarily as the KSE-100 index dropped to an intraday low of 65,129 points, down almost 1,100 points.

Power, oil marketing and banking sectors received considerable selling pressure.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, technology stocks should remain in focus this week. Also, the State Bank of Pakistan will hold a meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee, which is expected to keep the key interest rate flat at 22 per cent.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 66,012.33 points after losing 211.31 points or 0.32pc from the preceding session. The ove­rall trading volume decreased 8.5pc to 1.2 billion shares. The traded value remained flat at Rs33.4bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (164.6m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (93.3m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (65.3m shares), Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd (63.8m shares) and Askari Bank Ltd (57.6m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs101.41), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs98.27), Pakistan Engineering Company Ltd (Rs39.67), Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs27.15) and Services Industries Ltd (Rs24.97).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs350), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs291), Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs51), Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs50) and Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs48.99).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $3.9m.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023