KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed a bearish trend and closed in deep red with heavy losses due to selling pressure on investor concerns with respect to additional austerity measure in the upcoming budget and fears of further restriction in the next IMF programme.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by 908.60 points or 1.20 percent and closed at 74,666.66 points. The market opened on a positive note and the index hit 75,669.76 points intraday high, however dropped in negative zone due to heavy selling to hit 74,592.74 points intraday low.
Trading activity remained low as daily volumes on ready counter decreased to 414.479 million shares as compared to 441.261 million shares traded on Monday. The daily traded value on the ready counter stood at Rs 18.311 billion against previous session’s Rs 18.634 billion.
BRIndex100 decreased by 96.75 points or 1.22 percent to close at 7,834.76 points with daily turnover of 346.135 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 504.54 points or 1.96 percent to close at 25,244.54 points with total daily trading volumes of 222.429 million shares.
Foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $3.186 million. The market capitalization declined by Rs 121 billion to stand at Rs 10.061 trillion. Out of total 452 active scrips, 380 closed in negative and only 99 in positive while the value of 73 stocks remained unchanged.
Fauji Cement was the volume leader with 36.618 million shares however declined by Rs 1.15 to close at Rs 22.51 followed by K-Electric that lost Rs 0.14 to close at Rs 4.87 with 35.198 million shares. WorldCall Telecom closed at Rs 1.34, down Rs 0.01 with 21.707 million shares.
Sapphire Fibres and Philip Morris Pakistan were the top gainers increasing by Rs 31.51 and Rs 10.39, respectively to close at Rs 1,438.94 and Rs 600.00 while Mari Petroleum Company and Rafhan Maize Products Company were the top losers declining by Rs 83.44 and Rs 68.83 respectively to close at Rs 2,672.60 and Rs 7,926.64.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that Pakistan equities initiated the day’s affairs on a positive note as the KSE-100 Index made an intraday high at 75670 level (up 95 points or 0.12 percent) in the morning. However, the index couldn’t withstand 75,000 due to selling spree at the day’s high.
This inexplicable bearish headwind was astonishing in investors circle considering Monday’s consumer inflation up-beating number where it landed at 11.80 percent, way below street consensus of 13.7 percent. Nevertheless, concerns with respect to additional austerity measure in the upcoming budget (scheduled on June 12, as per media reports) and fears of further restriction in the next IMF program can be attributed to selling pressure market witnessed.
Tech, E&P and Power sectors contributed negatively to the index as SYS, MARI, HUBC, OGDC and PPL lost 341 points, cumulatively. On the other hand, LUCK, HMB and HINOON saw some buying interest as they cumulatively added 33 points.
BR Automobile Assembler Index lost 80.47 points or 0.47 percent to close at 17,067.04 points with total turnover of 21.796 million shares.
BR Cement Index decreased by 73.64 points or 0.96 percent to close at 7,584.19 points with 64.004 million shares.
BR Commercial Banks Index fell by 121.43 points or 0.6 percent to close at 20,109.37 points with 26.532 million shares.
BR Power Generation and Distribution Index declined by 251.92 points or 1.4 percent to close at 17,691.54 points with 41.462 million shares.
BR Oil and Gas Index plunged by 117.84 points or 1.78 percent to close at 6,506.72 points with 19.003 million shares BR Tech. & Comm. Index eroded 156.12 points or 3.72 percent to close at 4,036.41 points with 86.600 million shares.
Mubashir Anis Naviwala at JS Global Capital said profit-taking dominated PSX, leading to the KSE-100 Index losing 909 points due to uncertainty over rate cut in monetary policy and the upcoming budget.
Traded volume stood at 414 million shares, with FCCL (down 4.95 percent), KEL (down 2.8 percent), WTL (down 0.7 percent), HUMNL (down 7.8 percent) and NETSOL (up 2.9 percent) emerging as the volume leaders.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024