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KARACHI: The benchmark of representative shares breached the psychological barrier of 50,000 points after a gap of over six years in intraday trading on Tuesday.
Topline Securities said the session commenced on a positive note as investors continued their cherry-picking around the 50,000-point level. However, profit-taking kicked off as per expectations once the KSE-100 index hit the 50,000-point mark.
Apart from profit-taking, another likely reason for the small drop at the end of the session was the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar, which came after 28 consecutive sessions of the local currency gaining strength.
Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd declared a profit of Rs660 million on an unconsolidated basis for July-September, down 78.2 per cent from a year ago.
Power, technology, banking and exploration and production sectors contributed negatively to the index, the brokerage added.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 49,531.01 points, down 200.34 points or 0.4pc from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume decreased 21.2pc to 368.3m shares. The traded value decreased 26.3pc on a day-on-day basis to Rs10.4 billion.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (65.9m shares), Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (21.5m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (20.6m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (14.9m shares) and Air Link Communication Ltd (8.9m shares).
Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs190), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs28.50), Khairpur Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs23.20), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs20.35) and Hinopak Motors Ltd (Rs17.18).
Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs37.50), Pakistan Hotels Developers Ltd (Rs36.35), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs26.99), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs17.05) and Dawood Lawrencepur Ltd (Rs16.99).
Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.75m.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2023
