Closing Bell: Pessimism prevails as benchmark index sheds 281 pts

June 25, 2019 (MLN): Pessimism prevailed on trading floors today as the bears extended their victory to the second session in a row.

Market participants played off the negative sentiments stimulated partially due to Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s outgoing president’s statement that Pakistan has failed to implement the required action plan and is therefore running the risk of being put in the watchdog’s black list in October 2019. In addition to this, the proposed increase in gas prices also triggered a negative impact.

As a result, the benchmark KSE100 index ended the trading session with a 281 point or 0.82 percent decline to close at 34,190.

The Index remained negative throughout the session touching an intraday low of 33,984.

Of the 95 traded companies in the KSE100 Index, 33 closed up, 56 closed down, while 6 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 106 million shares.

Sector wise, the index was let down by Commercial Banks with 86 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 43 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 31 points, Cement with 27 points and Tobacco with 19 points.

The most points taken off the index was by HUBC which stripped the index of 29 points followed by PAKT with 29 points, NESTLE with 23 points, FFC with 21 points and PPL with 21 points.

Meanwhile, the KSE All Share Volume increased by 66 Million to 144 Million Shares whereas Market Cap decreased by Rs.60 Billion.

Total companies traded were 343 compared to 337 from the previous session. Of the scrips traded 118 closed up, 193 closed down while 32 remained unchanged.

On the other hand, total trades increased by 8,403 to 40,441 while value traded increased by 1.24 Billion to Rs.4.14 Billion.

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