PSX sees profit-taking after four-session bull run

KARACHI: In the last session of the week, Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed in red on Friday after four bullish sessions in the week. The benchmark KSE 100 index dropped 327 points of (-0.28%) closing at level of 118,442.17 level, the market decline was largely due to profit-taking, analysts said.

Range bound activity was observed on Friday as the index traded between its intraday high of +636 points and intraday low of -435 points to close at 118,442 level (down by -0.28%), Topline Securities noted.

Market decline is mainly attributable to profit-taking. Market has seen increased activity and in the last four sessions, market has gone up and there 3400 points increase. In such a situation chances of profit-taking kicks in especially when the index has reached a new record, Shaheryar Butt, CEO at Darson Securities, told Hum News English.

“Such increases shape-up psychological pressure resulting in selling, the situation we witnessed in today’s session,” Butt said.

There is no cause for panic, new opportunities will come to fore in the market, such a type of correction is healthy for the market, he added.

Top positive contributions to the index came from SYS, NML, ILP, MTL, and SNGP, as they cumulatively contributed +222 points to the index, the other hand FFC, HUBC, LUCK, MARI and UBL lost value to weigh down on the index by -344 points.

Intraday update: PKR shows slight improvement against USD

The benchmark index closed on a negative note, snapping a six day winning streak. The session gained up to 600 points but failed to sustain momentum as profit-taking and selling pressure kicked in, Ismail Iqbal Securities stated.

Traded value wise MARI (Rs 2.57 billion), PSO (Rs 2.01 billion), SNGP (Rs 936 million), OGDC (Rs 726) and ATRL (Rs 631 million) dominated the trading activity.

Trading volumes decreased to 172 million shares today as compared to 402 million shares in the previous session.