The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index opened on a higher note on Monday, adding more than 600 points during intra-day trading before late-session selling erased the gains and pushed the index into the negative territory.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 85,261.39, down by 222.02 points or 0.26%.
“The KSE-100 Index opened on a positive note, reaching a high of 621 points. However, this momentum was short-lived as investors opted to book profits, resulting in an intraday low of 327 points,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
“This profit-taking was influenced by a expected downward revision of earnings for HUBC, which declined by 9.15% following the early termination of a contract, as well as EFERT’s corporate results, which fell by 4.1% as the company declared 3Q2024 EPS of Rs13.47 and dividend of Rs2.50 per share, which was lower than industry expectation.”
Key contributors to the index included HUBC, EFERT, OGDC, BAHL, and ENGRO, which collectively subtracted 532 points. Conversely, positive movements from FFC, NBP, ATRL, and ISL added 326 points to the index, Topline said.
Another brokerage house Ismail Iqbal Securities said in its report that the index experienced volatility throughout the session on Monday.
“The power giant, Hubco, faced selling pressure following the confirmation of the early termination of its power purchase agreement for the base plant,” it said.
On Friday, the KSE-100 closed nearly flat after the index swayed in both directions amid concerns related to early termination of contracts with the independent power producers (IPPs).
The Board of Directors (BoD) of Siemens (Pakistan) Engineering Co.Ltd (SIEM), an engineering conglomerate and financial services contractor, approved the sale of company’s energy portfolio to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (Private) Limited for approximately Rs17.82 billion (~ $64 million).
On Monday, the listed company shared the development in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), an oil and gas exploration firm, announced commencement of hydrocarbon production from a new development well, Adhi South-9 well, located in the Pothwar region, Punjab.
Engro Fertilizers Limited (EFERT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Engro Corporation Limited, posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs8.55 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024, a decrease of 11% as compared to Rs9.58 billion recorded in the same period of the previous year, showed the company’s consolidated financial results posted at the PSX on Monday.
Globally, Asian stock markets rose on Monday and currencies declined as investors assessed China’s underwhelming stimulus measures, while focus was on key interest rate decisions by central banks in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines later this week.
China said on Saturday it will “significantly increase” debt to revive its sputtering economy but left investors guessing on the overall size of the stimulus package.
The onshore yuan was 0.1% lower while stocks in Shanghai rallied 1.7%. The South Korean won inched 0.4% lower while the Malaysian ringgit dipped 0.1% as the US dollar extended gains.
The UK’s main stock indexes opened largely flat on Monday as investors await a set of crucial economic data this week, while gambling firms fell after reports of the government considering tax raids.
The blue-chip index FTSE 100 was trading flat at 8247.86 by 0718 GMT, while the mid-cap index FTSE 250 lost 0.1%.
British bookmakers Flutter and Entain lost 7.3% and 14.2%, respectively, after reports said that the new government is considering a 3-billion-pound ($3.92 billion) tax raid on gambling firms. The travel and leisure sector dropped 2% after the news and was the biggest decliner amongst sectors.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar, depreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the currency settled at 277.66, a loss of Re0.02 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 477.64 million from 560.74 million on Friday.
The value of shares declined to Rs23.47 billion from Rs26.12 billion in the previous session.
WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 41.06 million shares, followed by Hub Power Co. with 37.18 million shares, and Pak RefineryXD with 30.17 million shares.
Shares of 443 companies were traded on Monday, of which 205 registered an increase, 180 recorded a fall, while 58 remained unchanged.