Lacklustre activity was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the final session of the week with a drop of 0.22%, while volume of shares traded improved significantly.
This was the fifth successive fall for the KSE-100 Index.
“A range-bound session was observed at PSX due to further devaluation of PKR against US dollar and concerns over a spike in T-Bill yields,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a note.
Rupee's losing streak stops, currency appreciates 0.14% against USD
The market opened in the green zone, pushing the benchmark index towards an intra-day high of 45,776.23, up 123 points. However, like in previous sessions, stocks were unable to sustain the gains as profit selling was witnessed.
At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 45,553.02, a drop of 99.60 points or 0.22%. On a weekly basis, the KSE-100 declined by 2.25%.
“This negativity in the market can be attributed to news flow suggesting that IMF is demanding reversal in subsidy on petroleum products, along with other tightening measures,” said Topline Securities.
Meanwhile, the bourse in a notice informed that it will remain closed on Friday, April 29, 2022, on account of Juma-tul-Wida.
On the economic front, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) injected Rs3.049 trillion worth of liquidity into the money market via an open market operation (OMO) for a seven-day period at 12.30%, it said on Friday.
On the corporate front, Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) announced its financial results, posting a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs6,573 million, an EPS of Rs23.16, during 3QFY22, as compared to Rs2,927 million and an EPS of Rs10.31 recorded in 3QFY21, up by 125% YoY.
Furthermore, the Bank of Punjab also announced its financials for 1QCY22, as it registered a PAT of Rs2.1 billion alongside an EPS of Rs0.81, depicting an uptick of 18% YoY.
Negativity persists, KSE loses another 290 points
Sectors contributing to the slide included miscellaneous (66.8 points), chemical (30.5 points), fertilizer (25.9 points), banks (24.8 points) and power (21.2 points).
Volume on the all-share index increased to 217.57 million from 186.43 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded though declined to Rs5.30 billion from Rs5.62 billion recorded in the previous session.
Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 23.65 million shares, followed by Hum Network with 23.61 million shares, and Lotte Chemical with 19.59 million shares.
Shares of 316 companies were traded on Friday, of which 162 registered an increase, 132 recorded a fall, and 22 remained unchanged.