KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed negative trend during the outgoing week due to selling on investor concerns over prevailing economic and political situation in the country.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 634.65 points on week-on-week basis and closed below 41,000 psychological-level at 40,964.54 points.
Trading activities also remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 9.8 percent to 117.73 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 130.53 million shares while average daily traded value on ready counter declined by 8.5 percent to Rs 3.73 billion against previous week’s Rs 4.08 billion.
BRIndex100 lost 86.91 points during this week to close at 4,094.51 points with average daily turnover of 96.897 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 558.14 points on week-on-week basis and closed below 14,000-level at 13,833.56 points with average daily trading volumes of 63.096 million shares.
The foreign investors also remained net sellers of shares worth $2.109 million during this week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 52 billion during this week to Rs 6.211 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market’s activity remained lacklustre and overall range bound during the outgoing week declining by 1.53 percent on week-on-week basis.
With regards to IMF situation Officials expects china to rollover more than $2.0 billion out of $3.7billion due next month that would help Pakistan avert immediate default. Furthermore, SBP FX reserves fell by $119million to $4.19billion as at 19 May 2023, with the import cover still remaining below a month.
The top performing sectors were Leasing Companies (up 5.5 percent), Cement (up 3.5 percent) and Food & Personal Care Products (up 3.0 percent), while the least favourite sectors were Close- End Mutual Funds (down 11.1 percent), technology and communication (down 5.9 percent) and tobacco (down 4.9 percent).
Stock-wise, top performers were PGLC (up 25.8 percent), GATM (up 24.2 percent), GADT (up 14.2 percent), LUCK (up 7.5 percent) and UPFL (up 7.3 percent), while laggards were HGFA (down 13.2 percent), SEARL (down 12.6 percent), AVN (down 11.7 percent), TRG (down 10.4 percent) and AIRLINK (down 8.3 percent).
Flow wise, Banks/DFI were the major buyers with net buy of $2.41 million, followed by Individuals (net buy of $1.28 million), while Mutual Funds were major sellers during the week, with a net sell of $3.47 million.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the week started on a negative note over worsening political situation and ongoing delay in resumption of the IMF program.
This negative momentum persisted as investors sought to secure profits amid mixed developments on the political and the macro landscape.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023