KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on April 23, as the investors opted to offload their holdings on their concerns over spreading Corona virus cases and lockdown in different parts in the country.
BRIndex100 lost 72.8 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,798.89 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 307.577 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 684.32 points to close at 25,003.95 with average daily trading volumes of 193.248 million shares.
KSE-100 index plunged by 598.87 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 44,706.76 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes decreased by 9.6 percent to 332.74 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 368.01 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 3.0 percent to Rs 14.79 billion.
The foreign investors turned net buyers of shares worth $7.3 million this week, with notable buying in the Banking ($2.4 million) and Technology ($4.8 million) sectors. On the other hand, Companies ($5.3 million) and Mutual Funds ($7.7 million) emerged as key net sellers. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 115 billion during this week to Rs 7.789 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the weak sentiment of the last week continued to derail investors’ confidence in the stock market with KSE-100 loosing 599 points during the week, closing at 44,707 points, down 1.32 percent. First, the political uncertainty and shutter down calls by religious leaders caved the market, secondly the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases across the country with NCOC seriously thinking of imposing lock-downs in major cities shattered market’s confidence during the week.
Though, support was expected to be provided by impressive results posted by Banks and Engineering sector which surpassed market expectations but due to overall uncertainty in the country, the market remained jittery.
Sector-wise, amongst major sectors, Engineering and Cements lost 5.98 percent and 3.05 percent respectively despite showing remarkable results whereas E&Ps and Autos witnessed flattish performance. Overall, sector wise major laggards were Cable and Electricals and Refinery, down by 6.08 percent and 4.64 percent respectively.
Stock wise, top performers include HMB (up 13.6 percent), NBP (up 13.4 percent), PSX (up 13.2 percent), OLPL (up 8.3 percent) and GADT (up 6.7 percent) whereas laggards were HINOON (down 9.6 percent), ATRL (down 9.5 percent), EPCL (down 9.2 percent), LOTCHEM (down 9.1 percent) and FML (down 8.9 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said the KSE-100 Index closed down 599 points (minus 1.3 percent on week-on-week basis), with almost similar participation as seen last week. While political noise slightly subsided this week, the increasing COVID cases kept investors cautious of fresh buying, as the government warned for amplified steps, including lockdowns, to control the spread of the virus.
On the sector front, Ministry of Energy is expected to submit a new Refinery Policy to the ECC next week, providing incentives for existing players as well. The Refinery sector closed down 4.6 percent this week. Moreover, higher than expected results in Banks led to the sector outperforming the KSE-100 index by 7.2 percent.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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