PSX loses 408 points to close at 44,840 points

The KSE 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bearish trend on Friday, losing 408.60 points, with a negative change of 0.90 percent, closing at 44,840.81 points against 45,249.41 points on the last working day.

A total of 189,484,396 shares were traded during the day compared to the trade of 325,466,550 shares the previous day whereas the price of shares stood at Rs5.661 billion against Rs9.290 billion on last trading day.

As many as 333 companies transacted shares in the stock market, 90 of them recorded gain and 219 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 24 companies remained unchanged.

The three top trading companies were Summit Bank with a volume of 25,745,000 shares and price per share of Rs2.72, Unity Foods Ltd with a volume of 18,231,681 and price per share of Rs 24.31 and

Cnergyico PK with volume of 9,126,622 and price per share of Rs6.11.

Siemens Pak witnessed a maximum increase of Rs34.99 per share, closing at Rs624.99 whereas the runner up was Millat Tractors, the share prices of which climbed up by Rs30.78 to Rs955.71.

Colgate Palm witnessed maximum decrease of Rs77.40 closing at Rs2,055.10 followed by Nestle Pakistan, the share price of which declined by Rs75 to close at Rs5,800.

Consumer prices in Germany rose at their fastest pace in four decades, data published Thursday showed, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices.

Inflation climbed to 7.4 percent in April from 7.3 percent in March, according to the federal statistics agency Destatis.

"Energy prices, in particular, have increased considerably since the war started in Ukraine" with a knockon impact for inflation, Destatis said in a statement.

The last time prices rose at a faster pace was for West Germany in the autumn of 1981, as the Iran-Iraq War caused oil prices to increase "sharply".

Germany, like many of its European neighbours, is highly dependent on supplies of Russian gas to meet its energy needs.

The outbreak of the conflict sent prices soaring, while the threat of a potential stop to supplies could push inflation higher if realised.

On Wednesday, the Russian energy giant Gazprom stopped deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to pay in rubles.

German inflation would likely "accelerate further in the coming months", said Carsten Brzeski, head of macro at the ING bank, as the war in Ukraine continued to rumble.

While the soaring cost of energy was still the main driving force behind rising prices, "the pass-through to all kinds of sectors is still in full swing", Brzeski said.