Equities plummet

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday witnessed a mixed trend and after moving both ways, closed on a negative note due to selling in certain sectors.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index hit 40,874.65 points intraday high and 40,332.35 points intraday low before closing at 40,471.16 points, down 262.35 points or 0.64 percent.

Trading activity remained thin as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 105.053 million shares as compared to 124.087 million shares traded Thursday. The daily traded value on ready counter declined to Rs 4.181 billion against Thursday’s Rs 6.120 billion.

BRIndex100 lost 21.1 points or 0.52 percent to close at 4,039.48 points with total daily turnover of 95.251 million shares.

BRIndex30 inched down by 33.96 points or 0.23 percent to close at 14,421.14 points with total daily trading volumes of 63.945 million shares.

The market capitalization declined by Rs 37 billion to Rs 6.352 trillion. Out of total 320 active scrips, 182 closed in negative and 116 in positive while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.

Hub Power Co was the volume leader with 7.912 million shares and increased by Rs 1.49 to close at Rs 67.03 followed by Cnergyico PK that lost Rs 0.13 to close at Rs 3.72 with 7.490 million shares. Dewan Motors closed at Rs 14.26, down Rs 0.22 with 5.698 million shares.

Nestle Pakistan and Bata Pak were the top gainers increasing by Rs 64.00 and Rs 47.00 respectively to close at Rs 5364.00 and Rs 1795.00 while Pak Services and Sapphire Textile were the top losers declining by Rs 145.35 and Rs 80.00 respectively to close at Rs 1792.65 and Rs 1020.00.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the benchmark KSE-100 Index had a rangebound opening session as the investors’ activity remained sluggish owing to the prevailing ambiguous political environment in the country. The second session began with the same negative sentiments, with the USD pounding the PKR in the interbank market, further eroding investor confidence as the index hit an intraday low of 403.76 points. Across-the-board, volumes remained reasonable.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Miscellaneous (down 82.8 points), Fertilizer (down 61.6 points), Technology & Communication (down 35.9 points), Commercial Banks (down 35.6 points) and E&P (down 29.0 points).

BR Automobile Assembler Index declined by 37.22 points or 0.51 percent to close at 7,306.47 points with total turnover of 5.866 million shares.

BR Cement Index decreased by 29.27 points or 0.79 percent to close at 3,663.57 points with 5.681 million shares.

BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 37.56 points or 0.47 percent to close at 7,994.37 points with 7.584 million shares.

BR Power Generation and Distribution Index increased by 115.07 points or 1.75 percent to close at 6,708.89 points with 20.179 million shares.

BR Oil and Gas Index inched down by 17.83 points or 0.44 percent to close at 4,036.78 points with 8.909 million shares.

BR Tech. & Comm. Index closed at 4,108.06 points, down 34.51 points or 0.83 percent with 14.417 million shares.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks fell sharply lower after slump in rupee on PM statement that IMF giving nation tough time to loan.

He said plunge in exports by 15.4 percent YoY in January 2023, SBP reserve falling to record low at $3.09 billion, and uncertainty over outcome of Pak-IMF 9th review mission talks amid slowdown in inflows, circular debt, debt servicing, high inflation played a catalyst role in bearish close.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023