KSE-100 Index shed 43 points to close at 42,983.45 points

KARACHI: The benchmark index witnessed a profit-taking session on Thursday, as international markets turned red, owing to the weak global cues.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said the rupee has crossed the mark of Rs200 against the dollar, depreciating for the 11th consecutive session, which further dented the investors’ interest.

“Despite, 29bps reduction in the cutoff yields in Wednesday’s auction, the index failed to sustain the momentum.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 0.1 per cent, or 43.43 points, to close at 42,983.45 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 0.06 per cent, or 10.31 points, to close at 16,350.07 points.

As many as 334 scrips were active, of which 122 advanced, 195 declined and 17 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 187.1 million shares, compared with the turnover of 278.8 million shares in the last trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed under pressure on falling rupee and investors’ expectations of tough government decisions on the energy prices to resume the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

“A slump in the global equities and crude oil prices and delays over the approval of Saudi aid package played a catalytic role in the bearish close.”

Muhammad Waqar at JS Global said that the bourse witnessed range-bound activity with a movement of 317 points.

“The index opened positive. However, it failed to sustain its momentum and closed slightly below 43,000, down 43 points. Going forward, we believe the market is weak. It is; therefore, advisable to stay aside.”

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Sapphire Fiber, up Rs70.99 to close at Rs1,023/share; and Sapphire Textile, up Rs70.05 to close at Rs1.004.35/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Gatron Industries, down Rs33.65 to close at Rs415.1/share; and Rafhan Maize, down Rs89.07 to close at Rs10,000/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Ghani Global with a turnover of 15.09 million shares. The scrip shed 39 paisas to close at Rs16.02/share; followed by the WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 13.3 million shares. It closed at Rs1.54 without any change. Silk Bank remained the third with a turnover of 13.09 million shares. It gained 14 paisas to finish at Rs1.22/share.