The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed lower nearly 200 points on Monday after back-and-forth trading, as investors weighed an upcoming new refinery policy and growing fears of a delay in Pakistan’s general elections.
On Monday, the KSE-100 hit an intra-day high of 49,034.92, but profit-taking erased the gains.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 48,386.25, lower by 199.47 points or 0.41%.
“Pakistan equities had a direction-less day where the KSE-100 index floated sideways ahead of crucial approval of Refinery Policy and expectation of release of Rs415 billion on circular debt front,” brokerage house Topline Securities said.
Arif Habib Limited said consolidation continued with the KSE-100 finding resistance to close down on the day.
On the political front, uncertainty increased after the arrest of the former prime minister Imran Khan and growing fears of a delay in the general elections by new census.
The Council of Common Interests approved the first-ever digital Population and Housing Census 2023, which may cause a delay in the elections as new constituency boundaries may take at least four months, Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said while speaking to a local news channel earlier.
Last week, the KSE-100 hit a six-high year, helped by a phenomenal bull-run that continued for 10 straight sessions on positive sentiment over Pakistan reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
On Monday, sectors dragging the KSE 100 lower included, automobile assembler (33.82pts), oil and gas exploration (31.13pts) and oil and gas marketing (30.97pts).
Company-wise, OGDC, PPL, and MCB Bank were top negative contributors, brokerage house Capital Stake stated in its daily market report.
The refinery sector lost 3.37% in its cumulative market capitalisation.
On the economic front, the Pakistani rupee sustained losses against the US dollar with a depreciation of 0.16% in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the currency settled at 287.43, a decrease of Re0.46, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s total liquid foreign reserves are standing at $13.464 billion as of Jul 27, 2023, according to the State Bank.
Symmetry Group Limited, a digital technology and experiences company, is also looking to raise at least Rs430.3 million from the stock market this week with book-building set to commence on August 8 (Tuesday).
Volume on the all-share index increased to 381.8 million from 331.1 million on Friday.
The value of shares traded also rose to Rs14.5 billion from Rs12.5 billion in the previous session.
Cnergyico PK remained the volume leader with 74.5 million shares, followed by Pak Refinery with 35.7 million shares and Oil & Gas Dev. with 26 million shares.
Shares of 354 companies were traded on Monday, of which 104 registered an increase, 225 recorded a fall, and 25 remained unchanged.
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