KSE-100 succumbs to profit-taking, falls over 900 points

Investors resorted to profit-taking at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost over 900 points to settle near the 65,000 level.

At close, the KSE-100 was at 65,204.67, a fall of 925.35 points or 1.40%.

A mixed trend was seen at the bourse with some index-heavy sectors including cement, chemical, commercial banks, fertilizer, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs trading in the red, while automobile assemblers and refinery sector traded in the green.

During the previous week, PSX had witnessed sideways movement as investors opted to book profit on available margins. KSE-100 index closed at 66,130.02 points, down 93.61 points on a week-on-week basis.

Experts said negativity on Monday comes on account of profit-taking by investors.

“The latest rally was a one-way movement, and along the way investor usually conduct profit-taking,” an analyst told Business Recorder.

“Other than that, there are no significant factors that dampen market sentiment," said the expert. "The current account posted a surplus, while internationally, oil prices, despite the recent increase, remain low."

After four consecutive months of deficits, Pakistan’s current account posted a surplus of $9 million in November 2023. This is in stark contrast to the deficit of $157 million recorded in the same month of the previous year, revealed data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday.

"In today's session, profit-taking trend was evident," said brokerage house Topline Securities in its post-market comment.

"Throughout the trading day, the index experienced fluctuations within a range of 1,521 points, reaching an intraday high of 66,586 and a low of 65,064 points.

"Negative contributions during trading hours came from stocks in the E&P, fertiliser, and banking sectors, where companies like PPL, MEBL, ENGRO, OGDC, and FFC collectively incurred a loss of 281 points. On the positive side, stocks such as KEL, PTC, and PSEL contributed to a combined gain of 80 points."

Volume on the all-share index increased to 1.89 billion from 1.74 billion a session before.

The value of shares fell to Rs24.6 billion from Rs29.98 billion in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 444 million shares, followed by K-Electric Ltd. with 392.75 million, and Cnergyico PK at 205.41 million shares.

Shares of 381 companies were traded on Monday, of which 107 registered an increase, 264 recorded a fall, while 10 remained unchanged.