KARACHI : After closing in green for seven consecutive sessions, PSX Thursday declined by 217.47 points (0.60%) to close at 36,048 points. Volatility prevailed in the market as the index traded between an intra-day high of 36,451 points and intra-day low of 36,012 points to finally close at 36,049, dealers said. SNGPL (down 1.61%) lost ground on the back of the news that three IPPs have won their cases against the gas utility company in London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) under their respective Gas Supply Agreements (GSAs). Penalized amount that SNGPL has to pay to these three IPPs is around Rs800m. TGL (down 1.94%) lost value to close in the red zone on the back of the news that DG Customs Valuation Karachi has revised customs values on the import of float glass and other types of glass for assessment of customs duty, observed analyst Arhum Ghous at JS Research.
BYCO (1.81%) gained as the company in its material information disseminated in the market declared that the Board of Directors approved amalgamation of Byco Oil Pakistan Limited and Byco Terminals Pakistan Limited with and into the holding company Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited. Marginal correction continued in the scrips expected to be part of the MSCI Emerging Market Index, as LUCK (down 2.42%), UBL (1.70%) and MCB (1.52%) lost value to close in the red zone, brokers said. Volume increased by 1.3% to 304m shares while value decreased by 15% to Rs 10.3b/$99. Heavy weight stocks such as HBL, MCB and LUCK also declined, stated dealers at sales desk Topline Securities.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti stated activity was led by second and third tier scrips with pre budget speculations rife in textile sector scrips and institutional support in oil scrips after surge in WTI crude prices near to $47/barrel.
Foreign outflows, political controversies and dismal data on trade deficit for Jul-April'16 played a catalyst role in bearish close.