Stocks nosedive

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday nosedived due to panic selling on investor concerns over prevailing political and economic uncertainty in the country.

The market opened in red zone and remained under pressure throughout the trading session. The benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 480.44 points or 1.18 percent and closed at 40,323.45 points. During the session, the index hit 40,200.69 points intra-day low level.

Trading activities also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 173.264 million shares as compared to 175.412 million shares traded on Thursday while total daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 4.628 billion against previous session’s Rs 5.891 billion.

BRIndex100 decreased by 60.9 points or 1.51 percent to close at 3,982.71 points with total daily turnover of 126.374 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 397.57 points or 2.74 percent to close at 14,100.52 points with total daily trading volumes of 95.450 million shares.

The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $323,164. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 82 billion to Rs 6.424 trillion. Out of total 324 active scrips, 218 closed in negative and only 81 in positive while the value of 25 stocks remained unchanged. Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with 25.154 million shares and gained Re 0.29 to close at Rs 6.62 followed by WorldCall Telecom that lost Re 0.03 to close at Rs 1.14 with 21.409 million shares. PPL declined by 5.57 to close at Rs 76.11 with 12.902 million shares.

Thal Ind Corp and Suraj Cotton were the top gainers increasing by Rs 16.66 and Rs 10.71 respectively to close at Rs 238.91 and Rs 153.90 while Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pakistan were the top losers declining by Rs 511.03 and Rs 200.00 respectively to close at Rs 8410.00 and Rs 5650.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the market nosedived during the trading session making an intraday low of minus 608.21 points. The benchmark KSE-100 index opened in the negative zone owing to the political uncertainty in the country keeping the investors at bay.

The second session resumed with the same sentiments as investors opted to square up their positions on account of the ambiguous weekend ahead on the political front. Volumes in the main-board remained decent whereas, healthy volumes were witnessed in the 3rd tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (down 171.6 points), Commercial Banks (down 46.3 points), Technology & Communication (down 45.8 points), Cement (down 43.7 points), and OMCs (down 42.5 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index inched up by 7.77 points or 0.1 percent to close at 7,503.59 points with total turnover of 2.756 million shares.

BR Cement Index declined by 55 points or 1.45 percent to close at 3,741.39 points with 6.646 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 27.94 points or 0.36 percent to close at 7,771.31 points with 20.652 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index lost 28.18 points or 0.45 percent to close at 6,299.06 points with 10.275 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index plunged by 122.9 points or 2.97 percent to close at 4,022.04 points with 50.015 million shares.

BR Tech & Comm Index decreased by 57.94 points or 1.34 percent to close at 4,258.44 points with 30.712 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks fell sharply lower on political uncertainty after dissolution of Punjab Assembly raising concerns over outcome of early general elections. Mid-session support remained on UAE approval for $1.0 billion loan and rollover of $2.o billion loan, Saudi fund signs $1.o billion oil facility.

He said Pak Rupee Instability, dismal data on $2 billion remittances in December 2022 falling by 19 percent on year-on-year basis and uncertainty over outcome of Pak-IMF talks amid political noise played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023