LAHORE - The benchmark 100-share index of Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed pressure on Friday and ended up closing down 132 points at 43,363 points, where anticipation of FTSE semiannual rebalancing took place.
Traded volumes decreased by 12 percent DoD to 193m shares in yesterday's trading session while value traded increased to $61m. Major contribution to total market volumes came from PAEL (+1.7%), LOTCHEM (-1.4%) and NRSL (-0.6%) constituting 43m shares out of the All Shares of 193m shares.
Major heavyweights namely MCB (-0.2%), ENGRO (-1.4%), LUCK (-1.2%), MTL (-3.3%) and UBL (-1.0%) dragged the market down by 87 points. Banking space remained under the hammer as heavyweights such as UBL (-1.0%), HBL (-0.3%), MCB (-0.2%) and NBP (-0.5%) cumulatively contributed -33 points to close in the red zone. Selling pressure was witnessed in the cement sector as LUCK (-1.2%), DGKC (-1.4%), MLCF (-1.7%) and CHCC (-0.7%) also closed in the red trajectory. E&P sector closed positive, on the back of crude oil prices increasing in the international market. POL (+0.6%) and OGDC (+0.7%) were the major gainers of the mentioned sector. Moving forward, experts expect the market to depict a similar trend and recommend investors to see any upside in the market as an opportunity to sell.