KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under severe selling pressure and closed in deep red with heavy losses during the outgoing week ended on February 17, 2025.
The benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 3,932.79 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 110,332.94 points.
Trading activities also remained low as total daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 12.8 percent to 434.10 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 497.62 million shares while average daily traded value on the ready counter declined by 22.8 percent to Rs 21.21 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 27.48 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 430.52 points during this week to close at 11,576.80 points with total daily turnover of 379.844 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 1,633.78 points on week-on-week basis to close at 33,962.47 points with total daily trading volumes of 245.123 million shares.
The foreign investors also remained on the selling side and withdrew $9.878 million from the local equity market during this week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 404 billion to stand at Rs 13.649 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market remained bearish throughout the week due to a lack of imminent triggers. KSE-100 witnessed its second-highest correction of the year in percentage terms, losing 3,933points or 3.4 percent WoW, closing at 110,323points on Friday.
The decline was mainly driven by higher dividend-yielding sectors, including Fertilizer, E&P, and Banks, as stocks prices corrected adjusting their dividend yields in line to rising secondary yields.
Notably, in the last T-bill auction, cut-off yields increased by 10-21bps, taking 12-month yields to 11.59 percent, as investors reacted to a lower-than-expected policy rate cut in the last MPC and opted to wait for the IMF review.
Additionally, uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade tariffs on their major import partners also dampens the investors’ confidence. Furthermore, trade deficit also widened by 18 percent YoY to $2.3billion in January 2025, driven by a 10 percent YoY rise in imports. However, on a positive note, inflation eased to a nine-year low of 2.4 percent YoY in January 2025.
Sector-wise, only REIT was a positive performer, up 1.6 percent WoW. On the other hand, refinery, transport, OMC, E&P, and technology sectors reported a decline of 7.8 percent/6.0 percent/5.8 percent/5.5 percent/5.4 percent WoW, respectively.
Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by mutual funds with a net sell of $5.5million, barring sale of 6.0 percent stake of PKGS by Enso AB. On the other hand, Individuals absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $7.9million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were SAZEW (up 8.0 percent), AICL (up 6.4 percent), NPL (up 5.3 percent), MUGHAL (up 4.7 percent) and INIL (up 3.6 percent), while top laggards were ENGROH (down 9.6 percent), MTL (down 8.8 percent), POL (down 8.6 percent), PTC (down 7.8 percent) and ATLH (down 7.4 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index experienced a negative trend throughout the week.
The week commenced with the release of CPI data, which came in at 2.4 percent YoY for January 2025, marking its lowest level in over nine years. The trade deficit for the first seven months of FY25 stood at $13.5billion (up 3.0 percent YoY), while for the month of January 2025, trade balance recorded a deficit of $2.3billion, up 18 percent YoY, primarily due to a surge in imports.
Pakistan also signed a $1.2 billion agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to ensure sufficient oil imports on deferred payments for one year, which bodes well for managing external financing needs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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