KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange had a turbulent session on Thursday as the KSE-100 index traded on both sides of the close and ended in a loss for the second day in a row.

Although the easing of Covid-related restrictions justified higher economic activity, rising political noise in the country has kept investors from suppressing investor interest, as an internal rift within the ruling party sparked nervousness.

A spike in Covid-19 cases to over 4,000 further weakened investor morale and as a result heavily indexed sectors had to contend with modest sales.

In the morning, trading started with minor highs and lows, but the first few hours were marked by bullish trading, which helped the market to make gains until noon.

Selling pressure appeared after noon, which drove the market down. A selling frenzy, emerging towards the end of the session, compounded the losses.

At the close, the benchmark KSE-100 fell 108.04 points, or 0.24%, to stand at 45,574.07.

In its report, Arif Habib Limited said the market is trading within the range, hovering between +149 points and -163 points. He finished the session down 108 points.

“Political uncertainty continued to play with sentiment in addition to selling exploration and production stocks due to concerns over crude oil prices on the international market and the liquidity crisis affecting operational performance. underlying companies, ”he said. “Bank stocks followed suit with negative price performance.”

Among technology stocks, TRG Pakistan suffered selling pressure, which added to the load on the index.

Byco Petroleum delivered solid volumes with higher prices in the regular market, outperforming volume leaders. Hascol Petroleum closed its upper circuit for the second day in a row, according to the report.

JS Global analyst Muhammad Mubashir said the market remained tied throughout the day, trading between 45,518 and 45,831 before closing at 45,574, down 108 points. Profit reservation was seen around the 45,800 level, he said.

Byco Petroleum (+ 7.1%) leads the volume chart with 120 million shares while WorldCall Telecom (+ 3.5%), Hascol Petroleum (+ 9.7%), K-Electric (+ 1 , 7%) and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (+ 7.4%) were also the main contributors to the total trading volume of 784 million shares.

“We expect high volatility as the market enters its resistance zone between 45,800 and 46,200. Aggressive profit-taking can be seen, therefore a sell-to-force strategy is advised,” said the analyst.

Overall trading volumes reached 784 million shares, up from 578.3 million on Wednesday. The value of the shares traded during the day was Rs 20.8 billion.

The shares of 389 companies were traded. Ultimately, 218 stocks closed higher, 151 fell, and 20 remained unchanged.

Byco was the volume leader with 120.1 million shares, earning Rs 0.68 to close at Rs 10.26. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 77.7 million shares, earning Rs0.06 to close at Rs1.76 and Hascol Petroleum with 61 million shares, gaining Re1 to close at Rs11.31.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of shares worth Rs 754.8 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.