KARACHI: The equity market witnessed continuation in yesterday’s profit taking on Wednesday.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended at 40,544 points from previous day’s closing of 40.596 losing 52 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note with +96 points carrying the optimism seen yesterday. During the session, the market went up by 243 points after which selling pressure was observed.
Cement Sector remained in the limelight, whereby LUCK remained under pressure and DGKC on the contrary traded in high volume and remained on the upper circuit. Total traded volume in Cement sector was 39 million shares, topped by FCCL, MLCF and DGKC.
Among banking sector scrips, UBL traded in red whereas HBL and MCB remained unscathed. EPCL got the dent due to reduction in Regulatory Duty on PVC resin and the price came down near end of session.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+28 points), Autos (+12 points), Miscellaneous (-27 points), Fertilizer (-18 points), Banks (-16 points).
Volumes declined from 165 million shares to 160 million shares (-3 percent DoD). Average traded value however increased by 11 percent to reach US$ 52 million as against US$ 47 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, FCCL, MLCF, DGKC and TRG, which formed 34 percent of total volumes.