After two stellar sessions, the Pakistan Stock Exchange ended the last trading session of the week slightly in the red, with the benchmark KSE-100 index losing 72.27 points, or 0.15 per cent, by market close to reach 49,623.81.
118.71 million shares of indexed companies changed hands on Friday, with a total worth of nearly Rs12.65 billion billion.
Overall, 392.03m shares were traded on the PSX, with a total worth of nearly Rs17.27bn. Stocks of 383 companies were traded on the exchange, of which 150 gained in value, 219 declined, while 14 remained unchanged.
Volumes were led by:
Lotte Chemical: 60.2m shares traded (+3.72pc);
Azgard Nine: 37.62m shares traded (+10.08pc);
Silk Bank Ltd: 33.74m shares traded (+13.25pc);
K-Electric Ltd: 21.51m shares traded (-0.4pc); and,
Power Cement Ltd: 17.82m shares traded (+5.28pc).
On Thursday the index had maintained a strong upward trajectory throughout the day to record its highest single-day gain in months. Analysts said rumors of a new leverage product, better-than-expected inflation data, and the resolution of broker/regulator issues regarding in-house/badla financing had powered the rally.
On Friday, however, “investors preferred to trim their positions ahead of the weekend,” according to Hammad Aman of Topline Securities