PSX Closing Bell: The Battle of Evermore

December 18, 2023 (MLN): The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) commenced the week on a negative note as the benchmark KSE-100 index shed over 925 points and concluded today's trading session at 65,204.68.

The index traded in a range of 1,521.68 points showing an intraday high of 66,586.62 (+456.59) and a low of 65,064.94 (-1,065.08) points.

The total volume of the KSE-100 index was 963.384 million shares.

While talking to Mettis Global News on the downturn, Shayan Jan, a treasury dealer at JS Bank, stated that the market is currently under selling pressure that is expected to persist for some more time.

He further noted that profit booking is currently dominating the market, despite the positive news of the country's current account posting a surplus worth $9 million in November.

To note, this comes as the first surplus recorded in the last 5 months.

Additionally, it is important to mention that the KSE-100 index snapped its 10-week-long streak last week with a marginal decline of 93.6 points or 0.14% WoW.

In today's session, out of the 100 index companies, 10 closed up, 69 closed down, 0 were unchanged, while 21 remained untraded.

KSE-100 index was let down by Commercial Banks with 275.34, Fertilizer with 152.98, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 142.97, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 64.96, and Cement with 61.01 points.

On the flip-side, the index was supported by Power Generation & Distribution with 21.51, Miscellaneous with 9.86, Refinery with 3.1, Modarabas with 0.06, and Vanaspati & Allied Industries with 0 points.

Companies that dragged the index lower were PPL with 64.62, MEBL with 58.13, ENGRO with 55.83, DAWH with 55.38 and OGDC with 52.05 points.

On the other hand, companies that added points to the index were KEL with 49.42, PTC with 18.86, PSEL with 11.84, CNERGY with 7.5, and TRG with 2.43 points.

In the broader market, the All-Share index closed at 43,643.83 with a net loss of 405.38 points.

Total market volume was 1,890.424 million shares compared to 1,741.362 from the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs24.60 billion showing a decrease of Rs5.38bn.

This was the second-highest daily traded volume in the last decade, just behind May 2021.

There were 295,493 trades reported in 379 companies with 106 closing up, 263 closing down and 10 remaining unchanged.

To note, the KSE-100 has gained 23,752 points or 57.3% during the fiscal year, whereas the ongoing calendar year has witnessed a cumulative increase of 24,784 points, equivalent to 61.32%.

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