Equities extend losses ahead of long weekend
KARACHI: The stock market remained volatile on Friday as the KSE-100 index declined by 181 points (0.37 per cent) to close at 49,300.
The market was directionless as investors weighed the option of booking profit or keeping positions ahead of a long weekend.
In the second session, the index succumbed to selling pressure as institutional investors trimmed their portfolios. However, in the final hour after hitting the intraday low of 244 points it recovered slightly.
The uncertainty on the political front kept investors in check, while additional pressure came from the culmination of rollover week for futures deliverable contacts.
The volume dipped to 290 million shares from 399m shares a day ago. The traded value increased to Rs16.1 billion from Rs14.8bn. Analysts at Intermarket Securities noted that the major contribution to downside came from PPL which lost 3.64pc, OGDC 2.49pc, ENGRO 1.67pc, PSO 2.13pc and FFC 1.43pc taking away 185 points.