Selling pressure at PSX, KSE-100 loses 928 points

After two positive sessions, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish trend on Thursday as the KSE-100 ended the day with a loss of 928 points.

The KSE-100 started the session with some buying, hitting an intra-day high of 79,776.96.

However, the latter hours witnessed strong selling pressure that persisted till the end of the session.

At close, the benchmark index settled at 78,469.33, down by 927.68 points or 1.17%.

“The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) lost momentum on Thursday ending the day in red. Indices traded in the red for most of the day, while investor participation fell compared to the previous session,” brokerage house Capital Stake stated in its post-market report.

Sectors painting the KSE-100 in the red included banking, power generation and distribution, and technology and communication.

Another brokerage house, Ismail Iqbal Securities, said the index remained volatile throughout the session primarily due to selling pressure before the rollover week.

On Wednesday, the KSE-100 gained 410 points amid talks of a further cut in the upcoming key policy rate and excitement surrounding the results season.

Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited reported a profit-after-tax of Rs8.28 billion during the three-month-period that ended June 30, 2024, registering a massive growth of 495% year-on-year.

The company registered a profit of Rs1.39 billion in the same period last year, revealed the company’s consolidated financial statements provided to the PSX on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF) has expressed its intention to acquire additional shares and control of Agritech Limited (AGL), a producer of urea and granulated single super phosphate fertiliser.

The development was shared by Next Capital Limited, appointed as manager to the offer by MLCF, in a notice to the bourse.

Globally, Asian shares were hammered on Thursday as a slump in global tech stocks sent investors fleeing into less risky assets, including short-dated bonds, the yen and Swiss franc.

The sell-off in stocks saw investors ramp up bets on rate cuts globally, with futures implying a 100% chance of a Federal Reserve easing in September. A spike in market volatility fuelled a vicious squeeze on carry trades which saw the dollar sink another 0.6% to 152.85 yen on Thursday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 2.9% and South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 2%. Taiwan’s markets were closed for a second day due to a typhoon.

The Pakistani rupee registered slight improvement, appreciating 0.03% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At close, the currency settled at 278.41, a gain of Re0.09, against the greenback.

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 327.28 million from 386.98 million a session ago.

The value of shares rose to Rs15.28 billion from Rs14.9 billion in the previous session.

Fauji Fert Bin was the volume leader with 28.45 million shares, followed by Hascol Petrol with 17.87 million shares, and Dewan Motors with 16.45 million shares.

Shares of 445 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 135 registered an increase, 263 recorded a fall, while 47 remained unchanged.