KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started out with disinterested and cautious investors deciding to take profit and stay away from building fresh positions on Wed­nesday. The KSE-100 index closed down 188.90 points (0.44 per cent) at 42,622.37.

Stocks continued to descend as investors’ were spooked by the uncertainty over two major events: The anticipation of outcome of the Supreme Court hearing on the Panama Papers case and the whether Opec would agree to a cut in production in the Ministers’ meeting at Vienna on Wednesday. Foreign selling which stood at an 8-year high $117m in September also sat heavily on investors’ mind.

Overall, volumes increased by 27pc over the previous session to 585m shares, while traded value increased by 33pc to Rs17.7bn.

Increased activity was seen in Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (POL), which gained 0.87pc after it announced that production from Mardankhel-01 well had started and current production from this well was 3,200 barrels per day of condensate and 40 million cubic feet per day of gas per day.

MARI rose 0.9pc while PPL shed 1.7pc on a mixed note.

Abra Juma on sales desk at Global Securities commented that major profit-taking was witnessed in the banking and cement sector, possibly due to continued foreign selling on the back of further appreciation of dollar against the rupee.

Nabeel Haroon at JS Global observed that the textile sector continued its downward trajectory to close 0.8pc lower from its previous day close on the back of Aptma call to shut down mills by Dec 6. NML down 4.6pc, NCL 3.1pc, GATM 3.3pc, GADT 4.4pc, ANL 1.9pc and KTML 2.5pc.

Among banks, UBL lost 0.8pc, HBL 0.6pc, ABL 0.9pc and NBP 1.9pc.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2016

Follow Dawn Business on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook for insights on business, finance and tech from Pakistan and across the world.

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
Updated 29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

It is clear that going after militant groups inside Afghanistan unilaterally presents its own set of difficulties.
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...