Karachi: Business remained under severe pressure on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday, where the increasing trend of selling by investors forced both the major indices, KSE-100 and KMI-30, to close with significant declines. The market was definitely volatile during the trading session; however, selling pressure prevailed till the end of the day, and shares of several major sectors recorded significant declines.
According to official market data, the KSE-100 index opened at 184,405.87 points and touched a high of 185,215.56 points during the session but later fell to a low of 179,504.35 points due to continuous selling. At the end of the session, the benchmark index closed at 181,629.37 points, a significant decline of 4,626.18 points, or 2.48 per cent, compared to the previous session. During this period, the total trading volume of shares of companies included in the index was recorded at 571.94 million shares.
Companies that played a limited positive role in the market included ATRL, IBFL, CNERGY, JDWS and COLG; however, significant declines in shares of UBL, FFC, ENGROH, LUCK and HUBC played a major role in keeping the index down.
Similarly, the KMI-30 index, which represents Islamic investments, also remained in the grip of a negative trend. The index opened at 260,857.53 points and touched a high of 261,896.60 points during the trading session, while a low of 253,796.57 points was also recorded due to selling pressure. The closing level was 256,369.77 points, down 6,638.08 points or 2.52 percent from the previous trading day. The trading volume of shares of companies included in the index was 237.08 million shares, while the performance since the beginning of the financial year was negative 0.37 per cent and positive 3.15 per cent since the beginning of the calendar year.
ATRL, PRL and NRL played a limited positive role in the KMI-30; however, the weak performance of ENGROH, LUCK, FFC, HUBC and PPL had a significant negative impact on the overall index.
According to market experts, investors adopted a cautious strategy in the recent trading session, and a trend of profit booking was observed in many sectors. According to him, in the upcoming sessions, investors will focus on economic indicators, corporate financial results, government economic policies and global financial trends, which can play an important role in determining the future direction of the Pakistan Stock Exchange.