Stocks snap winning streak

Negative sentiment prevailed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Wednesday. Investor preferred profit-taking in select scrips, pulling down the benchmark KSE-100 index below 33,000-point mark. Hammad Aman, Manager of Equity at Topline, said after gaining 7.81 percent in the last 10 sessions, the bourse took some breather and close lower.
He said investors preferred to trim their positions and some profit-taking was seen in the index heavyweights - HBL, UBL, and ENGRO. Correction was also seen in international oil prices which pushed POL and OGDC down by -1.23 percent and -0.19 percent respectively, he added. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 75 points or 0.23 percent to close at 32,958 points down from 33,033 points Tuesday.
Trading activity was also lower than previous day and overall some 204 million shares were traded, down 5.5 percent. Similarly, traded value decreased by 21 percent to Rs 9 billion. Commenting on the market, Ahsan Mehanti, Director at Arif Habib, said weak sentiment was witnessed at PSX amid global stocks rout and fall in crude prices.
He said that dismal exports data, falling banking spreads, delay in auto policy and the ECC approvals on higher bank transaction taxes played a catalytic role in the bearish close at PSX. During the intraday trading, the KSE-100 index also hit 33,087 points highest and 32,892 points lowest level. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 15.7 billion to reach Rs 6.915 trillion. Out of 311 stocks, 127 advanced, 167 declined while 17 remained unchanged. B.O. Punjab, Sui South Gas, Dewan Cement, Pace (Pak) Ltd and TRG Pak Ltd were leading scrips with 14.49 million, 12.18 million, 11.8 million, 11 million and 10 million shares, respectively. Analysts at Alternate Research said the KSE-100 index remained extremely volatile Wednesday swinging between negative and positive territories multiple times throughout the trading day.
The market climbed to 33,086.51 points level where resistance halted the positive momentum and the selling brought the index down causing the market to eventually close at 32,958 points, they added. Slight decrease in international crude oil prices affected the index heavy oil and gas sector, which remained depressed and closed in the red except for PPL which managed to close green. Investors' interest was seen in autos and cement scrips which landed in the green while on the other hand, profit-taking was witnessed in cable & electronic goods and refinery sector, they maintained. Bhanero Tex. and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers with Rs 24.78 and Rs 23.70 to close at Rs 520.48 and Rs 497.70, respectively. Unilever Foods and Atlas Battery were the top losers with Rs 275.00 and Rs 30.68 to close at Rs 5,425.00 and Rs 590.00, respectively.