Bourse sheds 239 points over profit-taking

KARACHI: The Pakistan stock market closed lower on Thursday due to profit-taking by the investors across the board as the political and economic conditions of the country deteriorated.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said that the benchmark KSE-100 Index started the day on a positive note and remained in a green territory during the initial half of the session.

“However, profit-taking was noticed across the board as the former prime minister announced to hold a key address today to talk about some key issues. Thus, the market failed to sustain at the level of 42,000. Additionally, the pressure on rupee continued as it reached 235.88/dollar at the interbank today,” he added.

“Going forward, we expect the market direction to follow the ongoing political unrest and worrisome situation of the economy. Therefore, we reiterate our stance for the investors to keep booking profits at a higher level,” he said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 239.73 points, or 0.57 per cent to close at 41,772.09 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 72.63 points, or 0.46 per cent, to close at 15,684.87 points.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed lower on investors’ concerns over economic uncertainty besides delays in the $1.5 billion Asian Development Bank (ADB) emergency loan approval and the release of funds from friendly countries.

“Falling rupee, a slump in global crude oil prices and surging power tariff played a catalyst role in the bearish close,” he added.

As many as 341 scrips were active of which 114 advanced, 206 declined and 21 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 259.97 million shares, compared with the turnover of 156.58 million shares in the last trading session.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Sapphire Textile up Rs20.01 to close at Rs1,119.99/share, and Siemens Pakistan up Rs12.89 to close at Rs712.90/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Bhanero Textile Rs97.50 to close at Rs1,202.50/share, and Sapphire Fiber down Rs78 to close at Rs1,001/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in TRG Pak with a turnover of 27.44 million shares. The scrip gained Rs7.66 to close at Rs109.52/share, followed by WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 21.63 million shares. It shed 2 paisas to close at Rs1.18/share. TPL Properties remained the third with a turnover of 21.48 million shares. It gained 39 paisas to finish at Rs18.97/share.