Stocks flat for second day; eyes set on Saudi crown prince

Stocks on Thursday ended flat for the second consecutive session as sentiment-boosters from any front remained at large, amid some profit-taking and speculations on exactly what ‘economic gifts’ Saudi crown prince has in store for Pakistan, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said stocks closed lower amid thin trade on weak earnings outlook.

Oil stocks outperformed on surging global crude oil prices, Mehanti said adding auto, cement and fertiliser scrips got battered on weak sales data for January 2019.

“Political uncertainty, likely hike in power tariffs, reduction in fertiliser subsidies, and expected dismal CPI inflation data played a catalytic role in bearish close,” Mehanti added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 0.09 percent or 37.13 points to close at 40,506.98 points, whereas KSE-30 shares index shed 0.04 percent or 8.09 points to end at 19,444.00 points.

Of 339 active scrips, 138 moved up, 183 retreated, and 18 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 123.619 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 160.241 million shares in the previous session.

Madiha Javed, head of research at Iqbal Ismail Securities, said the market closed slightly negative over International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package concerns, while reports that Saudi crown prince was coming to Pakistan with a bagful of investment could not drive the index up.

“Volume of shares traded was also lower. Progress on potential investment by Saudi should help reverse the negative market sentiment,” Madiha added.

Mohammad Arbash from Elixir Securities said “We expect the market to take support at 40,100 levels. With IMF negotiations at the fore, related developments will determine the course of market direction”.

The shares of textile and other industrial sectors were down because of gas disruption issue where supply has been suspended because of delay in arrival of LNG vessels.

An analyst said the government had been making tall claims of restoring confidence of the business community and measures to boost sentiment, but had failed to address the key issues hurting production.

“The slowdown in the industrial output is expected to shrink the volume of exports and revenue collection, hurting economy,” the analyst said.

As such, DG Khan Cement Limited declined 4.55 percent and Maple Leaf Cement 4.87 percent, trading at their lower limits.

Index heavyweights, financial and energy sectors supported the benchmark index as United Bank Limited gained 2.59 percent, Pakistan Petroleum 0.67 percent, Habib Bank Limited 0.66 percent, and Pakistan Oilfields rose 0.93 percent.

The highest gainers were Rafhan Maize, up Rs100.00 to close at Rs7300.00/share, and Colgate Palmolive, up Rs81.50 to finish at Rs2040.00/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs56.98 to close at Rs2400.00/share, and Services Industries Limited, down Rs31.00 to close at Rs770.00/share.

Soneri Bank Limited recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 5.768 million shares. The bank’s scrip gained Rs0.3 to close at Rs12.91/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Lotte Chemical recording a turnover of 26.633 billion shares, whereas the scrip lost Rs0.33 to end at Rs16.65/share.