KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a negative session on Wednesday, with the benchmark index of representative shares ceding ground to the bears by the end of trading.

Arif Habib Ltd said the KSE-100 index hit an intraday low of 406.62 points following the market chatter about new tax measures in the upcoming budget. Investors decided to book profits after news reports emerged that the proposed tax on corporate reserves would likely be limited in nature. Resultantly, the likely quantum of pay-outs by corporate entities to avoid the proposed advance tax might not be as large as expected earlier.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,330.56 points, down 341.10 points or 0.82 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 20pc to 158.1 million shares. The traded value went down 4.6pc to $21.4m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (20.7m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (8.7m shares), Fauji Cement Company Ltd (6.4m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (5.9m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (5.3m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were technology and communication (-86.6 points), cement (-67.9 points), exploration and production (-51.5 points), chemical (-27 points) and fertiliser (-18.9 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs44.12), Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs40.61), Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs30.52), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs28.42) and JDW Suagr Mills Ltd (Rs26.01).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs901), Colgate-Palmolive Pakis­tan Ltd (Rs38.61), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs28.83), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs23.37) and Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs22.20).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloa­ded shares worth $0.24m.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2023