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The last trading session of the year at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 100 points to close at 40,472 points.
The index touched a day's high of 40,645 points in the first half of the session and a low of 40,271 amid high volumes.
A total of 240 million shares worth Rs9.4 billion were traded in the session, with 171 of the 347 traded scrips gaining in value while 162 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
The technology and communication sector dominated trading, with 46.4m shares changing hands. The cement and commercial banking sectors followed with 36m and 31.1m shares traded.
Volumes were led by:
P.T.C.L: 25.4m shares traded [+6.10pc];
Dewan Cement: 12.5m shares traded [+2.98pc];
K-Electric Ltd: 11.5m sahres traded [+1.77pc];
Dewan Salman: 11.4m sahres traded [+19.01pc];
WorldCall Telecom: 9.8m shares traded [-5.37pc].
Worst year since 2008
Despite the KSE-100 index vaulting 53,000 points at one point, 2017 closes as the worst year for the PSX since 2008, a report from JS Research said Friday.
"The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 15pc to close at 40,471, compared to an average annual return of 35pc during the previous five years," the report said.
"To add perspective, the KSE-100 index is down 24pc from its intra-day peak of 53,127 recorded on May 25, 2017 and it is the worst year in terms of returns since 2008 (KSE-100 index was down 58pc that year)."
It further noted that "the market capitalisation of the local bourse closed at $78bn, down 15pc from last year's closing. Interestingly, the value is just 12pc higher compared to 2007's closing, as compared to an increase of 188pc in the KSE-100 Index during this period."
It noted that among the key sectors, cement, power generation and commercial banks were major laggards while oil and gas exploration, textile composites and automobile assemblers were outperformers.
The report added that the decline at the PSX was triggered by "expected MSCI reclassification-related inflows not materialising on MSCI re-balancing day".
Concerns over the external account and political noise played a major role in investors' losing confidence, while foreign selling worth $496m compounded the pain, the report said.
