Market watch: Stocks witness another correction

Benchmark KSE-100 Index decreases 306.52 points

KARACHI: The index underwent another correction during the week, registering a fall of 306.51 points on Friday after climbing over 156 points in the morning.

Investors opted to book long overdue profits, falling in a queue after the mid-day break with the KSE-100 Index enduring a volatile and see-saw ride to finish close to the 49,200 level.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index finished with a fall of 0.62% or 306.52 points to end at 49,210.50.

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JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said the market opened on a positive note as the index gained to make an intraday high of +156 points but came under selling pressure during the second half where investors booked profits.

“Banking sector led the decline in the market, as index heavyweights UBL (-2.64%) and MCB (-1.83%) lost value to close in the red zone,” said Haroon.

“Profit taking continued in the textile sector as the sector extended it loss to close (-1.79%) lower.

“The fertiliser sector also closed marginally lower (-0.22%) than its previous day close even after the news that fertiliser manufacturers have increased prices by Rs210/bag and Rs300/bag for urea and DAP,” respectively.

“Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Group (+1.11%) managed to close in the green zone.”

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Trading volumes fell to 514 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 563 million.

Shares of 432 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 161 stocks closed higher, 263 declined while 8 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs23.6 billion.

First Dawood Investment Bank was the volume leader with 28.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.22 to finish at Rs7.85. It was followed by Pace (Pak) Limited with 24.6 million shares, losing Rs0.71 to close at Rs11.30 and Sui Southern Gas Limited with 24.1 million shares, gaining 1.35 to close at Rs37.74.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs458 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.