PSX under pressure

KARACHI: After witnessing a range-bound session, Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday closed on negative note due to prevailing political uncertainty in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index crossed 43,000 psychological level during the session to hit 43,035.10 points intra-day high level, however failed to sustain this level due to selling pressure and dropped in red zone to hit 42,742.75 points intra-day low level.

The KSE-100 index finally closed 42,796.85 points, down 53.98 points or 0.13 percent.

Total daily trading volumes stood at 188.664 million shares as compared to 185.537 million shares traded on Monday while total daily traded value on ready counter increased to Rs 7.411 billion against previous session’s Rs 6.017 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 6.8 points or 0.16 percent to close at 4,313.18 points with total daily turnover of 165.067 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 136.57 points or 0.83 percent to close at 16,299.40 points with total daily trading volumes of 115.334 million shares. The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $371,985. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 7 billion to Rs 6.861 trillion. Out of total 350 active scrips, 174 closed in negative and 156 in positive while the value of 20 stocks remained unchanged.

Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 17.834 million shares and gained Rs 0.33 to close at Rs 31.09 followed by WorldCall Telecom that lost Rs 0.04 to close at Rs 1.51 with 14.325 million shares. TRG Pak declined by Rs 5.33 to close at Rs 140.84 with 12.400 million shares.

Thal Ind Corp and Shield Corp were the top gainers increasing by Rs 14.99 and Rs 10.00 respectively to close at Rs 288.99 and Rs 260.00 while Sapphire Fiber and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers declining by Rs 90.00 and Rs 80.00 respectively to close at Rs 1160.00 and Rs 1020.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a range-bound session was witnessed at the PSX. The market opened in the red zone on account of political uncertainty, but later in the day investors jumped back, turning the index green and helping it reach an intraday high of 184.95 points. Profit-taking was observed in the final hour of trading causing the index to close in the red. Investors’ participation remained low, on the contrary, 3rd tier stocks remained as volume leaders.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology & Communication (down 58.6 points), Miscellaneous (down 24.6 points), Power Generation and Distribution (down 16.8 points), Cement (down 16.0 points), and Vanaspati & Allied Industries (down 10.1 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index gained 19.81 points or 0.22 percent to close at 9,004.50 points with total turnover of 3.346 million shares.

BR Cement Index lost 18.5 points or 0.41 percent to close at 4,499.69 points with 8.219 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index inched down by 6.76 points or 0.08 percent to close at 8,520.46 points with 7.824 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index fell by 28.6 points or 0.41 percent to close at 6,874.64 points with 4.980 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index added 27.49 points or 0.7 percent to close at 3,941.11 points with 33.376 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm. Index declined by 78.03 points or 1.65 percent to close at 4,637.74 points with 39.324 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed lower on economic uncertainty and concerns for surging default risk (CDS) index near to 64.2 percent depicting likely default. Early session support remained on UK removal High Risk Third Countries list upon FATF exit from grey list and likely receipt of G7 financial support from Global shield funds.

He said falling FX reserves, rupee instability, likely mini budget ahead of IMF review played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022