PSX remains under pressure; KSE-100 Index shed 243 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market remained under-pressure due to inflationary concerns arising out of the higher fuel prices, as across-the-board selling was observed in the last trading hour, which led the market to close in the red zone.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said the market witnessed a lacklustre session and closed in the red.

“During the day, the market participants were perturbed by the political uncertainty at the international level between Russia and Ukraine. Moreover, the higher international oil ($94/bbl) and local oil prices (Rs159/litre) coupled with the lack of positive triggers kept the investors at bay.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 0.53 per cent, or 243.7 points, to close at 45,441.1 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 0.5 per cent, or 89.26 points, to close at 17,698.88 points.

As many as 348 scrips were active, of which 99 advanced, 229 declined and 20 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 152.86 million shares, compared with the turnover of 145.3 million shares in the last trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed under pressure, amid slump in the global crude oil prices and weak global equities on looming Ukraine crisis.

“Surge in the industrial power tariff and reports of falling trend of textile exports on a monthly basis in January 2022 played a catalytic role in the bearish close.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Bhanero Textile, up Rs87.88 to close at Rs1,259.63/share; and Shield Corporation, up Rs20.31 to close at Rs291.13/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Allawasaya Textile, down Rs138.01 to close at Rs1,702.22/share; and Premium Textile, down Rs58.8 to close at Rs725.2/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 16.15 million shares. The scrip shed six paisas to close at Rs1.96/share; followed by Hum Network with a turnover of 14.43 million shares. It shed 24 paisas to close at Rs7.26/share. Telecard Limited remained the third with a turnover of 10.4 million shares. It shed 68 paisas to finish at Rs16.1/share.