PSX Closing Bell: Whipsaw

July 12, 2024 (MPN): Pakistan stocks closed Friday's session largely unchanged after a whipsaw day amid volatility on the political front.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index traded in a wide range of 1,710.00 points showing an intraday high of 80,321.68 (+329.33) and a low of 78,611.68 (-1,380.67) points.

The index faced some selling pressure during the first half of session, declining 0.5% by noon.

However, during the mid-day break from 12:00pm to 02:15pm, the supreme court declared Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) eligible for reserved seats for women and minorities, weakening Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition.

The stock index plunged as much as 1.7% upon reopening after the break, before paring most of its losses to settle just 0.06% lower by session’s end to 79,944.09.

The total volume of the KSE-100 Index was 217.96 million shares.

Of the 100 index companies 38 closed up, 59 closed down, while 3 were unchanged.

KSE-100 index was let down by Power Generation & Distribution (-110.95pts), Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (-48.80pts), Oil & Gas Marketing Companies (-31.26pts), Refinery (-11.93pts), and Technology & Communication (-11.53pts).

On the flip-side, the index was supported by Commercial Banks (+101.65pts), Fertilizer (+55.68pts), Leather & Tanneries (+21.59pts), Paper & Board (+15.88pts), and Food & Personal Care Products (+12.55pts).

Companies that dragged the index lower were HUBC (-100.04pts), OGDC (-37.58pts), UBL (-30.55pts), PSO (-29.46pts), and FFC (-26.29pts).

On the other hand, companies that added points to the index were HBL (+124.78pts), FFBL (+37.41pts), EFERT (+32.33pts), SRVI (+21.59pts), and MCB (+19.15pts).

In the broader market, the All-Share index closed at 51,006.35 with a net loss of 51.60 points or 0.10%.

Total market volume was 437.32 million shares compared to 389.02m from the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs23.48 billion showing an increase of Rs2.56bn.

There were 240,011 trades reported in 442 companies with 155 closing up, 243 closing down, and 44 remaining unchanged.

To note, the KSE-100 has gained 1,499 points or 1.91% during the fiscal year, whereas the ongoing calendar year has witnessed a cumulative increase of 17,493 points, equivalent to 28.01%.

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