KSE 100 index down 670 points due to profit-taking by investors

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday witnessed a bearish trend due to the cautious behaviour of investors and the desire to earn large profits. After a continuous bullish trend throughout the week, the business community preferred to secure their funds before the weekly holidays, due to which the KSE 100 index closed with a huge decline of 670.20 points.

Economists say that this decline is not a sign of any long-term crisis but a natural process of the market, which is called a ‘correction’ in technical terms. The start of business was very optimistic, and the index opened at 169,539.16 points. In the first few hours, the index reached a high of 169,624.78 points due to buyers’ interest. However, in the afternoon session, selling pressure suddenly increased, which completely changed the bullish trend. Due to the change of positions, the index fell to a low of 167,480.67 points at one point, but thanks to minor buying at the last minute, the market managed to close at 167,844.25 points. According to the report, a total of 170.38 million shares were traded throughout the day.

Although the market is still standing on a stunning profit of 33.60 per cent on a financial year-to-date (FYTD) basis, the index is facing a loss of 3.57 per cent in the current calendar year (CYTD), which is forcing investors to be cautious. The highlight of today’s trading was the excellent performance of PTC, which tried its best to save the market from falling by adding 48.32 points to the index.

In addition, EFERT contributed 33.61 points, and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) contributed 26.91 points. On the other hand, major players in the banking sector, especially United Bank Limited (UBL) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL), led the way in dragging down the market, losing 91.31 and 73.02 points, respectively.