KSE-100 sees resistance at 71,000, closes session in red

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the trading session on Tuesday in the red, failing to sustain the 71,000 level crossed in the first half of the day.

The KSE-100 started the session positive, crossing 71,000 for the first time. However, selling pressure in the latter half pushed the index into the negative territory.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 70,483.66, down by 60.92 points or 0.09%.

Early-session buying was witnessed in index-heavy sectors including commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, and power generation, with stocks of OGDC, PPL, SNGPL and HBL trading in the green.

However, profit-taking erased all intra-day gains.

In a key development, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told AFP on Monday that Pakistan has initiated discussions with the IMF over a new multi-billion dollar loan agreement to support its economic reform programme.

Moreover, a high-level Saudi delegation, led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, arrived on a two-day visit to Pakistan on Monday.

A high government official said the visit was primarily focused on economic cooperation between the two countries, particularly the ongoing and some new projects under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).

However, he said that no MoU was expected to be signed at that stage and the discussions would be held on a technical level which would be followed by the signing of several MoUs at the leadership level later during the Saudi Crown Prince’s visit to the country.

On Monday, the KSE-100 had closed the trading session in the green amid a buying spree in the second half to settle at a record high of 70,544.58, up by 229.86 points or 0.33%.

Internationally, Asian stocks fell and oil prices climbed Tuesday on growing fears of a wider war in the Middle East after Israel’s army chief vowed a response to Iran’s unprecedented attack on his country at the weekend.

The selling came after Wall Street’s three main indexes tanked in response to forecast-beating US retail sales data that reinforced the view that the world’s top economy remained in rude health and further dented hopes for interest rate cuts this year.

Traders were also digesting a mixed bag of figures showing Chinese growth easily beat expectations in the first three months of the year but retail sales and industrial production came in well below par.

All eyes are on the Middle East after Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at its regional enemy, saying the attack was retaliation for an April 1 strike on the consular annex of its Damascus embassy that killed seven Revolutionary Guards including two generals.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee sustained further losses, depreciating 0.06% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the local unit settled at 278.29, a loss of Re0.17 against the greenback, as per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Volume on the all-share index marginally decreased to 548.42 million from 555.21 million a session ago.

The value of shares declined to Rs21.03 billion from Rs21.98 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 91.61 million shares, followed by Kohinoor Spinning with 34.4 million shares, and Air Link Communication with 19 million shares.

Shares of 369 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 175 registered an increase, 168 recorded a fall, while 26 remained unchanged.