KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) failed to maintain the four day long rising trend and closed the trading day in negative. Investors offloading investments and adjusting portfolios before the weekend were the major reason behind it. Furthermore, the recent spike in COVID-19 cases also forced investors to stay cautious.
The benchmark Index managed to breach the 45,500 mark several times during the day. However, the Karachi Share Index (KSE-100) ended the day down by 726.22 points (1.6%) with closing at 44,724.09 points against the previous closing of 45,450.31 points.
The market went as high as 45,641.29 points during intra-day trading, while recording as low as 44,641.29 points.
Trading volume increased to 554.06 million shares today as compared to 510.3 million traded in the previous session, according to PSX website data. The daily traded value declined to Rs 23.69 billion from Rs 241.79 billion in the previous session, the data said.
As advised by the analysts and traders, the small and medium level investors are cautious in investing due to the unclear political situation as well as the spike in COVID-19 infections in the country. However, the break-in continuous rising trend is technically positive that prevents a large panic creating corrections that can hit market, they added.
In the last 24 hours, Pakistan recorded 3,495 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in 2021, while 61 lost their lives, according to the latest statistics released by the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC). Most casualties were seen in the province of Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
The share price of Nestle Pakistan increased by Rs 50 to Rs 6,000, while Khyber Tobacco gained Rs 32.51 to Rs 466.12. On the other hand, Unilever Foods lost Rs 120 today to close at Rs 13,880, while Sapphire Textile lost Rs 66 to close at Rs 882
