Karachi: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish trend during trading on Friday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index closing at 170,478.94 points, down 696.57 points. Investors adopted a cautious approach in the market while selling pressure from banking and energy sectors pushed the index down.
The market opened at 171,651.48 points and the index touched a high of 172,102.91 points in the early hours. However, as selling pressure increased throughout the day, the market fell to a low of 170,254.65 points. The index closed down 0.41 percent.
According to market data, the total volume of shares of companies included in the index was 174.95 million shares, indicating continued investor interest. Although the market remained under pressure on a daily basis, the KSE-100 index has shown a positive performance of 35.70 percent since the beginning of the financial year, reflecting investor confidence and improvement in some fundamental indicators of the economy.
The prominent stocks that contributed positively to the market included PSX, JVDC, KTML, MTL and NPL. Pakistan Stock Exchange stocks added 65.06 points to the index while JVDC contributed 22.83 points, KTML contributed 19.49 points, MTL contributed 16.51 points and NPL contributed 14.46 points.
On the other hand, the stocks that had the most negative impact on the market included UBL, OGDC, PPL, MCB and MEBL. UBL lost 157.79 points from the index while OGDC and PPL contributed 95.85 and 94.78 points respectively. Similarly, MCB and MEBL also contributed significantly to the decline in the index.
According to financial experts, the recent decline can be attributed to profit-taking activities rather than a change in the overall direction of the market. They say that after the extraordinary rally in the past few months, investors are adopting a cautious approach while keeping a close eye on the upcoming fiscal and economic policies.
According to analysts, although volatility may continue in the short term, the stability in Pakistan’s economic situation, a possible reduction in inflation and improvement in business confidence may prove to be positive factors for the market in the long term. Investors have been advised to make investment decisions by considering fundamental economic indicators and financial performance of companies rather than short-term emotional decisions.
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