KARACHI: Stocks trade and prices remained under a bearish spell at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday. The impact of tighter restrictions on social and business activities in Sindh, the second most populated province, of Pakistan kept investors primarily on sidelines.
The benchmark KSE-100 index, despite some strong start of the day, failed to sustain pressure from the selling side and ended the day with a loss of 80.91 points, retreating to 47,793.07 marks compared to 47,873.26 points in the previous trading day.
On Friday, the market participants turned cautious and worried as the sharp rise in COVID infection rate in the southern provide led the government to tighten restrictions on social and business activities that may hurt the topline growth of companies.
The Sindh government has decided to reimpose coronavirus restrictions in the province from Monday onwards as the positivity ratio crossed 10 per cent. From Monday on, shopping malls and markets will operate from 6 am till 6 pm. The businesses in the province have been ordered take strict measures at their offices and factories to avoid closure due to the worsening situation of the pandemic.
The decisions came during a meeting of the Provincial Coronavirus Task Force chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.
On Thursday, the shares of 417 companies were traded, of which 160 registered an increase, 237 recorded a fall, while 20 remained unchanged.
The market capital decline by Rs 1.87 trillion, while the total value traded increased by Rs 804 million to Rs 11.09 billion. The volume at Pakistan stock market moved down from 302 million shares recorded in the previous session to about 314 million shares.
The share price of Nestle Pakistan increased by Rs70 to Rs5,9, while Colgate Palmolive gained Rs47.53 to Rs2,698. On the other hand, Thal Ind. Corp. lost Rs21.51 today to close at Rs279.49, while K.S.B. Pimps lost Rs19.40 to close at Rs274.93.