KARACHI: The Pakis­tan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended a topsy-turvy Friday in the red following the power sector regulator’s notification of an additional fuel cost adjustment of Rs4.13 per unit for November 2023.

The trading on the bourse began on a positive note reversing overnight gloom but the news of a hike in industrial tariff dampened the sentiments which triggered an across-the-board selling.

The benchmark index witnessed wild swings posting an intraday low of 548.74 points to 64,098.11 and a high of 289.91 points to 64,936.76.

Worldwide equity markets displayed a negative trend as crude oil fell around two per cent.

Brent crude declined by $1.57 to $79.01 a barrel by 11:23am EDT, after earlier rising over $1. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell $1.47 to $73.57.

Topline Securities Ltd said negative movements were observed in several stocks, including Oil and Gas Development Com­pany Ltd, Systems Ltd, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Lucky Cement Ltd and Habib Bank Ltd, resulting in a combined loss of 136 points. Conversely, Hub Power Company Ltd, Engro Corporation Ltd and Engro Fertiliser Ltd contributed to a collective gain of 94 points.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed flat amid concerns for Nepra approval over a hike in industrial power tariff and high inflation reported in December 2023.

He said economic risks over reforms post-elections, circular debt crisis and pre-poll uncertainty played a catalyst role in the bearish close.

The KSE-100 index closed at 64,639.16 points after losing 7.69 points or 0.01 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume, however, decreased by 14.16pc to 548.98 million shares. The traded value plu­n­ged 24.09pc to Rs15.39bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (154.66m shares), Worldcall Telecom Ltd (37.14m shares), Fauji Foods Ltd (27.32m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (25.66m shares) and Bank of Punjab (19.26m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs50.00), Pak Suzuki Mo­tor Company Ltd (Rs43.67), Serice Indus­tries Ltd (Rs28.87), Pakis­tan Service Ltd (Rs26.33) and Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs25.62).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Mehmood Tex­tile Mills Ltd (Rs20.95), Thal Ltd (Rs9.50) Lucky Cement Ltd (Rs9.05), Colgate-Pal­molive (Pakis­tan) Ltd (Rs8.83) and Siemens (Pak­istan) Engi­nee­ring (Rs8.50).

Foreign investors continued selling their holdings and offloaded shares worth $0.03m.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024