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KARACHI: The stock market witnessed a mixed trading session on Friday as investors chose to hold back during the opening hours.
Arif Habib Ltd said the index initially dropped 168.46 points after Moody’s Investor Services lowered Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating by one notch. Investors opted for booking profits after trading resumed in the green zone during the second half, leading the benchmark to close in the red zone.
It said the main-board volumes remained decent as a result of the rupee’s newfound strength versus the dollar over the last many sessions.
JS Global said investors should look for buying opportunities in construction and export-oriented sectors. The government promised it’d provide subsidised electricity at Rs19.99 a unit to the export-oriented industries a day ago.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,085.25 points, down 75.32 points or 0.18 per cent from the preceding session.
The trading volume decreased 29.2pc to 313.3 million shares while the traded value went down 30.7pc to $42.8m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (83.52m shares), Telecard Ltd (44.18m shares), The Organic Meat Company Ltd (9.91m shares), Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (8.72m shares) and Kot Addu Power Company Ltd (8.48m shares).
Sectors that contributed negatively to the index performance were exploration and production (40.1 points), technology (32.4 points), investment banking (18.6 points), cement (8.8 points) and automobile assembling (8.3 points).
Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs34.50), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs25.40), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs25), Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs13.08) and JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs10.50).
Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs58), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (Rs23.99), Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd (Rs20.24), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs17.03) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs10.67).
Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.04m.