KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on May 31, 2024 due to selling as the investors opted to book profit, however healthy buying on last day of the week supported the market to minimize its losses.
The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 104.56 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 75,878.48 points.
Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter declined by 19.9 percent to 447.01 million shares during this week as compared to previous week’s average of 558.19 million shares while average daily traded value on the ready counter declined by 5.2 percent to Rs 17.10 billion during this week against previous week’s Rs 18.04 billion.
BRIndex100 gained 16.41 points during this week to close at 7,957.04 points with average daily turnover of 369.717 million shares.
BRIndex30 added 52.22 points on week-on-week basis to close at 25,700.00 points with average daily trading volumes of 233.894 million shares.
The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $5.523 million. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 79 billion during this week to stand at Rs 10.169 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the market remained volatile throughout the week, with early correction leading the benchmark KSE-100 index to dip below the psychological barrier of 75,000 points. However, the bulls staged comeback on the last trading day, gaining 1,000 points.
Uncertainty surrounding the upcoming budget fuelled volatility and profit-taking. With just a week remaining before the budget announcement, concerns have risen over the IMF’s high tax proposals. Reports suggest abolishing all sales tax exemptions, except for some essential food items, and increasing the standard GST from 18 percent to 19 percent. Additionally, the budget announcement is expected to coincide with the upcoming MPC meeting, potentially causing delays as PM Shehbaz Sharif will be on an official visit to China.
Sector-wise, Leather & Tanneries, Engineering, and ETFs were amongst the top performers, up 12.2 percent/5.1 percent/3.6 percent respectively. On the other hand, Woollen, Property, and Sugar & Allied Industries were amongst the worst performers with a decline of 5.5 percent/4.1 percent/3.6 percent.
Flow wise, major net selling was recorded by Mutual Funds with a net sell of $8.9million. On the other hand, Insurance Companies absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of $13.1million.
Company-wise, top performers during the week were MUGHAL (up 15.3 percent), FABL (up 14.2 percent), FCCL (up 11.1 percent), SYS (up 8.7 percent) and SCBPL (up 7.5 percent), while top laggards were SHEL (down 7.4 percent), PSX (down 6.8 percent), BNWM (down 5.5 percent), GLAXO (down 5.4 percent) and YOUW (down 5.3 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index underwent 0.1 percent WoW correction during this week, after striking positive weekly closing for past 3-weeks.
Investors preferred to book profits ahead of the FY25 Budget announcement, which is now rescheduled for 10th June 2024.
Tax measures expected in the budget remained in the limelight during the week. Proposals are being considered to raise GST by 1.0 percent to 19 percent, reduce income tax slabs for the salaried class, and increase customs duty and GST on imports of non-essential products, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, food items and fuel products.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024