KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange Wednesday closed almost flat after adding 19.11 points to reach 45998.81 points level amid volatility over ex-PM Nawaz’s power show on GT Road.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 46101.08 points and lowest level of 45591.38 points, with the volume of about 213.72 million shares and value of Rs13.76 billion. As many as 368 companies were active; of which 222 advanced, 134 declined and 12 remained unchanged.
Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 19.741 million shares, adding Rs1.04 to reach Rs23.04. It was followed by K-Electric with 14.75 million shares, gaining Rs0.19 to end at Rs7.05 and TRG Pak Ltd with 14.38 million shares, adding Rs1.85 to close at Rs45.30.
The top three gainers were Sapphire Tex with price per share of 2049.90 (75), Murree Brewery with price per share of 876.34 (41.74) and Hinopak Motor of 1350 (27).
The top three losers were Sanofi-Aventis with price per share of 2035.08 (-106.51), Bata (Pak) with price per share of 3100 (-50) and Khyber Tobacco share of 785 (-36.05).
Earlier, the stocks opened keeping previous day’s bearish note and dropped 169 points to reach 45811 points level in early trading. The losing spree further intensified till midday at PSX as the benchmark 100-index shed 243 points to drop to 45737 points level.
On Tuesday, the stocks continued its downward trajectory on political uncertainty as benchmark index plummeted by 486 points and closed at 45,980 points. Heavyweight stocks of the commercial banking sector dragged the KSE 100-index down by 56 points. UBL (down 1.49%), HBL (0.74%), ABL (1.02%) and NBP (0.33%) were among the major laggards from the sector.
AKBL (down 4.39%) from the banking sector shed points in trading session. The bank also announced EPS of Rs2.28 for 1H2017. On the other hand, PSO (up 5%) hit its upper circuit as the company announced DPS of Rs15 (FY17: Rs25) with 20% bonus shares with its FY17 results. POL (up 1.20%) and PPL (0.19%) from the E&P sector gained points against the market sentiment as oil in the global market steadied after news of lower crude supplies from Saudi Arabia, said analyst at JS Global. Steel sector also lost points due to selling pressure where ISL (down 4.79%), ASTL (3.63%), and ASL (down 3.93%) were losers from the aforementioned sector.
Traded volumes were down 15% to 206m shares whereas traded value was down 13% to Rs8.8b. Scrips of total 384 active companies traded in the session, of which 295 closed in negative, 75 in positive while 14 remained unchanged.