DAILY MARKET WRAP

Bears continued to strengthen their grip over the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday. Indices slipped lower and lower for most part of the day while investor participation contracted compared to previous session.

Equity markets worldwide showed positive trend. Crude oil prices moved south with WTI crude oil price falling by 0.43% to $80.72. While Brent crude oil price was down by 0.45% to $85.39. (As at 12:59 PM PST, Source: Investing.com).

The benchmark KSE 100 index gained 0.52% WoW. During the day, it touched day’s high of 65,534.02 gaining 116.62 pts before losing momentum and slipping to day’s low of 65,056.66 with a loss of 360.74 pts. The index settled lower by 265.57 pts at 65,151.83. The KMI 30 index fell by 357.44 points ending the session at 109,233.61. While the KSE All share index was down by 259.14 pts ending the session at 43,240.78.

Overall volume depreciated from 389.54 mn shares the last session to 208.37 mn shares. Leaders of the volume chart were, Pakistan Reinsurance Company Limited (PAKRI +8.28%), Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIAA -7.50%) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTC -7.51%). The scrips had 24.16 mn shares, 16.54 mn shares and 10.93 mn shares traded, respectively.

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE 100 index south included, Banking sector (-59.51 pts), Oil and Gas Exploration sector (-53.58 pts) and Power Generation and Distribution sector (-35.02 pts). Company-wise, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC -43.74 pts), United Bank Limited (UBL -40.08 pts) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL -36.85 pts), were top negative contributors.

The Cement sector lost 0.28% in its cumulative market capitalization. Lucky Cement Limited (LUCK -0.50%), Bestway Cement Limited (BWCL -1.67%), Kohat Cement Company Limited (KOHC -0.35%) and Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL -1.08%), all closed in red.

Values as at 01:15 PM