Investors adopted a cautious strategy on the first trading day of the week at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as a result of which selling pressure prevailed in the market and both major indices closed with significant losses. Selling trends in the banking, fertiliser and energy sectors kept the overall market direction negative.
According to official market data, the KSE-100 index closed at 179,927.05 points, down 2,314.73 points, or 1.27 percent. During the trading session, the index touched a high of 181,148.27 points and a low of 179,448.52 points, while trading opened at 180,125.79 points.
The total trading volume of shares of companies included in the KSE-100 was recorded at 365.01 million shares. On a year-to-date (CYTD) basis, the index is still up 3.37 percent, but has seen a marginal decline of 0.21 percent since the beginning of the financial year.
In terms of individual company performance, GHNI, ATRL, PSO, CNERGY and GHGL provided positive support to the index, while UBL, MEBL, FFC, HUBC and LUCK emerged as the biggest negative contributors and put significant pressure on the overall index.
On the other hand, the KMI-30 index also closed in the negative zone. The index fell by 3,382.29 points or 1.32 percent to 253,531.92 points. During this period, the highest level of the index was 255,248.89 while the lowest level was recorded at 253,069.73 points.
The trading volume of shares of companies included in the KMI-30 index was 109.38 million shares. GHNI, ATRL, PSO, NRL and PRL played a positive role in this index, while the weak performance of MEBL, HUBC, LUCK, ENGRO and FFC was the main reason for the overall decline.
According to market analysts, investors remained cautious in the recent session due to profit-taking in major sectors and an uncertain economic environment. According to them, corporate financial results, economic indicators and policy developments in the coming days may affect the market trend.