Despite a bullish start, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed 0.43% lower on Monday as a selling spree in the second half of the session erased earlier gains.
The KSE-100 started the session with a bullish momentum as it climbed over 550 points in the first half.
However, profit-taking kicked in before the closing hours and pushed the index into the negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 64,237.03, down by 277.87 points or 0.43%.
“Due to increasing noise at the political front with regards to upcoming elections, investors opted to trim their equity positions by booking profit in selective stocks of banks, E&P, tech, and OMC sectors,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Resultantly, UBL, PPL, OGDC, TRG, & PSO lost 200 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, ENGRO, EFERT & DAWH collectively added 269 points due to rejuvenated buying interest in them, the brokerage house added.
During the previous week, the bourse witnessed a bullish trend and recorded healthy gains on the back of aggressive buying mainly by local investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index surged by 2,063.86 points on week-on-week basis and crossed 64,000 level to close at 64,514.90 points.
Globally, Asian share markets dawdled on Monday as investors braced for U.S. and Chinese inflation data, along with a corporate reporting season where robust results are needed to justify high stock valuations.
Geopolitical tensions were also on the radar as disruptions in the Red Sea raised oil prices and shipping costs in Europe, while the Israeli conflict with Hamas threatened to spread to Lebanon.
There was more promising news from Washington where U.S. congressional leaders agreed on a $1.6 trillion spending deal aimed at averting a partial government shutdown.
The early action was cautious with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan flat, after retreating 2.5% last week.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee recorded gains for the fourth successive session against the US dollar, appreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Monday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the local unit settled at 281.28 after an increase of Re0.12 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index fell to 484 million from 950 million a session before.
The value of shares also declined to Rs12.7 billion from Rs19.3 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 168.8 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 22 million shares, and P.I.A.C.(A) at 18 million shares.
Shares of 358 companies were traded on Monday, of which 104 registered an increase, 223 recorded a fall, while 31 remained unchanged.
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