Equities pulled lower by oil prices; profit-taking

Pakistan shares fell on Monday after four consecutive bull runs on profit taking in cement and financial sectors, while energy stocks retreated due to weaker oil prices, dealers said.

Ali Raza, analyst at Elixir Securities, said equities took a breather as profit-taking kicked in. “Stocks opened mixed and skidded lower during the day as domestic politics kept investors primarily institutions at bay,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index shed 0.44 percent or 151.77 points to close at 34,567.52 points.  KSE-30 Index also fell 0.65 percent or 131.09 points to close at 20,074.52 points.  Turnover fell by 69 million shares to 185.57 million shares, trading value decreased to Rs7.04 billion against Rs13.33 billion, while market capital lowered to Rs7.04 trillion against Rs13.33 trillion recorded in the last session. Of a total of 356 companies’ active in the session, 128 recorded in green, 216 in red while 12 remained unchanged.

Ahmed Saeed Khan, analyst at JS Research said the oil and gas sector remained under pressure amid global crude oil prices coming down from their high over the weekend to trade around $46.80/barrel. “Overall we still remain bullish on the market and suggest that dips like today in the index should be utilized as an opportunity to buy in favored sectors,” Khan said.

Major laggards of the oil and gas sector were NRL (down 2.30 percent), ARL (down 2.07 percent) and OGDC (down 1.89 percent). Profit taking was witnessed in the cements and banking sectors amid increased political noise and uncertainty. Lucky Cement (down 1.19 percent) and Faisal Bank Limited (down 2.76 percent) were the major laggards of their respective sectors.

Fertilizer stocks, despite gas tariff reduction for the sector, failed to perform and remained under pressure. Most of the scrips closed in the red zone. Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (down 2.58 percent) was the top laggard whereas Fatima Fertilizer (up 0.42 percent) was the only script to close positively in the fertilizer sector. Highest increase was recorded in the shares of Siemens Pak, which rose by Rs49.37 to Rs1,036.87/share, followed by Ferozsons (Lab) that increased by Rs28.38 to Rs839.05/share. Major decline was noted in shares of Philip Morris Pak, which fell by Rs44.66 to Rs1,700.81/share, followed by Island Textile that decreased by Rs42.87 to Rs832.13/share.

Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Bank of Punjab, TRG Pak Ltd, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Dewan Motors, Bank Al-Falah, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Jahangir Siddiqui Co, TPL Trakker Ltd, Pak Elektron and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited. Bank of Punjab remained the volume leader with 23 million shares with an increase of nine paisas to Rs9.30/share. It was followed by TRG Pak Ltd with 16.08 million shares with an increase of Rs1.12 to Rs35.59/ share. Shares’ turnover in the future contracts fell to 37.74 million shares from 92.01 million shares traded in the previous session.