KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on September 15, 2023 as the investors remained cautious due to apprehension regarding announcement of policy rate.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 259.98 points on week-on-week basis and closed below 46,000 psychological-level at 45,753.51 points.
Trading activities however slightly improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 10.2 percent to 160.60 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 145.77 million shares while average daily traded value on ready counter increased by 18.0 percent to Rs 6.16 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 5.22 billion.
BRIndex100 lost 25.45 points during this week to close at 4,582.90 points with average daily turnover of 140.198 million shares.
BRIndex30 inched down by 33.10 points on week-on-week basis to close at 16,233.74 points with average daily trading volumes of 85.493 million shares.
The foreign investors remained on the selling side and withdrew $9.674 million from the local equity market during this week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 60 billion to Rs 6.772 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the outgoing week saw the market awaiting the MPC meeting’s decision wherein expectations ranged from 0% to 2% hike in policy rate, and last week’s T-Bill auction suggested the latter. However, the Finance Ministry decided to leave the policy rate unchanged at 22 percent, citing controlled inflation, lower CAD amongst others as the main impetus to maintaining the status quo.
Overall, trading session during the week remained within a narrow range with investors focused on economic and political stability. The benchmark index opened the week at 46,013points, settling at 45,754points (down 260points or 0.57 percent WoW).
Buying was witnessed sector wise in Leasing Companies, emerging as the top performer recording gains of 3.8 percent WoW, whilst Close-End mutual funds saw major selling declining by 10.31 percent WoW.
Flow-wise, major selling was recorded by Banks/DFI with a net sell of $5.7million. On the other hand, Insurance Companies absorbed the selling with a net buy of $7.9million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were PSEL (up 10.6 percent), SEARL (up 7.9 percent), PIOC (up 6.8 percent), DAWH (up 6.4 percent) and MUGHAL (up 6.1 percent), while top laggards were HGFA (down 10.3 percent), MUREB (down 9.8 percent), UPFL (down 6.9 percent), THALL (down 6.8 percent) and PKGS (down 6.6 percent).
Company wise total volume leaders were BAFL at 66.11million shares; MLCF at 40.35million shares; KEL at 39.64million shares; WTL at 31.96million shares and MCB at 30.56million shares.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index started the week on a dull note as investors chose to divest their holdings due to apprehensions surrounding the key policy rate.
During the week, Pak Rupee continued to gain and closed the week at Rs299.8 in the open market, gaining 1.7 percent WoW.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023