KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed lacklustre performance during the outgoing week ended on March 31, 2023 as the investors remained cautious and avoided to take fresh position on their concerns over prevailing economic and political situation in the country. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,000.83 points, up 58.78 points on week-on-week basis.
Trading activities also remained thin as average daily volumes on ready counter declined by 30.8 percent to 92.28 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 133.37 million shares while average daily traded value on ready counter declined by 5.8 percent to Rs 3.39 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 3.60 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 16.11 points during this week to close at 4,056.06 points with average daily turnover of 80.321 million shares.
BRIndex30 lost 46.55 points on week-on-week basis to close at 14,366.90 points with average daily trading volumes of 51.091 million shares.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $335,482 during this week. Total market capitalization increased by Rs 01 billion during this week to Rs 6.108 trillion. “The market witnessed lacklustre performance this week, with a weekly change of mere plus 59 points”, an analyst at AKD Securities said.
The reason behind this dull performance was economic and political instability that remained throughout the week. IMF situation continued to hang in the balance, despite the government officials’ doubtful assurances of resolution.
Currently, IMF is seeking commitments from friendly countries to bridge the gap of external financing, and furthermore, the fund is demanding clarity on the announced fuel subsidies. Alongside these developments, reserves saw a decrease of $354million in SBP held reserves, standing at $4.24billion as of 24th March.
Sector-wise, Leather & Tanneries, Textile weaving, and Cable & Electrical Goods were amongst the top performers, up 7.5 percent/4.2 percent/2.7 percent WoW respectively. On the other hand, Miscellaneous, Leasing Companies and Property were amongst the worst performers with a decline of 11.7 percent/5.2 percent/2.5 percent WoW respectively.
Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by Insurance with a net sell of $8.64million. On the other hand, Banks absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $4.58million, followed by Companies with net buy of $4.46million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were CEPB (up 9.1 percent), SHFA (up 8.3 percent), PIBTL (up 7.9 percent), HCAR (up 6.7 percent) and PAEL (up 6.5 percent), while top laggards were PSEL (down 23.6 percent),PGLC (down 14.4 percent), YOUW (down 9.0 percent), SHEL (down 5.6 percent) and KTML (down 5.0 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index ended the week flat as IMF’s 9th review remains on hold due to pending assurances from friendly countries. Political noise also rose during the week as Supreme Court continued hearings on the ECP’s decision to postpone the provincial assembly elections. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,000 points, up 0.1 percent WoW where Cement and Fertilizer sectors were prominent performers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023