Pakistan stocks slip below 32,000 points on foreign selling

Pakistan stocks slipped below 32,000 points on continuous foreign selling triggered by soft crude oil and weak regional markets, dealers said on Thursday.

“Foreigners are selling shares under international pressure,” said Farhan Mansoori at Arif Habib Limited.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index fell 324.05 points, or 1.01 percent, to close at 31,820.54 points. The index lost 885.68 points, or 2.70 percent, in the last three consecutive sessions. Foreigners sold shares worth $129,000 in the session. Total foreign selling amounted to $14.02 million in the last three sessions, said the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL).

KSE 30-share index declined 186.12 points, or 0.99 percent, to end at 18,588.06 points in the session. Volumes dropped 33 percent to 112.99 million shares. Trading value dipped 30 percent to Rs6.99 billion. The market capitalisation decreased Rs69 billion to Rs6.72 trillion. Out of a total of 345 active stocks, 242 closed down, 82 ended up and 21 remained unchanged.

“The market may test the 30,000-point level,” Mansoori said. “However, those who would take long-term positions in valued stocks for the six to eight months would bag gains.”  He said almost all the fundamentals remained intact on a positive side and the bourse was training earlier gains under the international phenomenon of negativity. 

Stocks are subject to selling despite there is nothing wrong on politics in the country. Interest rate and inflation remained low, but financial results are good.

Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS Global Research said negativity prevailed in the market as the index, after making an intraday high of 60.87 points, succumbed to selling pressure.  OGDC lost 2.29 percent and Pakistan Petroleum Limited dropped 1.88 percent. They were the major index movers. “They lost value as crude oil fell to trade below $27/barrel level,” Khan said.

Profit taking was seen in Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited, which declined 4.31 percent, as the gas utility posted a loss of Rs3.93/share in their result announcement.

Cement sector came under selling pressure on account of news that the government slashed their development spending to keep expenditures in line with the limit set with the International Monetary Fund.

Heavyweight DG Khan Cement lowered 0.25 percent, Fauji Cement dropped 1.13 percent and Maple Leaf Cement inched down 0.37 percent.

A Topline Securities report said despite healthy auto sales in the country, automobile companies remained under pressure as investors feared low margins due to strengthening of Japanese Yen. As a result, Indus Motors, Pak Suzuki and Honda Car declined in range of 0.8-3.9 percent, it added. Ferozsons Lab closed at its lower limit of five percent on the reports of expected price decrease of its key products.

Byco Petroleum was volume leader with 10.71 million shares, as it closed at Rs18.27 with a loss of six paisas. This was followed by TRG Pakistan with 5.80 million shares, which ended at Rs27.23 with a drop of 51 paisas. TPL Trakker recorded trade in 5.06 million shares, as it closed at Rs12.93 with a surge of 31 paisas.