Stocks fell over one percent on Monday as institutional investors booked profit in overbought shares ahead of the central bank's monetary policy decision, which kept the discount rate unchanged, traders said.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index shed 1,047.71 points or 1.44 percent to close at 71,695.03 points. The highest index of the day remained at 73,300.75 points while the lowest level was recorded at 71,602.94 points.
The KSE-30 index increased by 491.86 points or 2.05 percent to 23,542.01 points.Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed sharply lower ahead of the State Bank of Pakistan's policy announcement.
"Institutional profit-taking in selected over-bought scrips and likely government structural reforms for IMF’s new program to end subsidies in energy, fertilizer and gas sectors played a catalytic role in the bearish close," Mehanti said.
Traded shares increased by 72 million shares to 613.314 million shares from 541.144 million shares. The trading value rose to Rs26.314 billion from Rs22.589 billion. Market capital lowered to Rs9.871 trillion against Rs10.017 trillion.
Of 385 companies active in the session, 133 closed in green, 231 in red and 21 remained unchanged.Ali Najib, an analyst at Topline Securities, said equities had a mixed day ahead of two key events scheduled in the evening. The Monetary Policy Committee and IMF Board of Directors had meetings later in the evening.
Continuing last week’s buoyant momentum, the week commenced on a positive note and the benchmark index made an intraday high at 73,301 levels. "At the aforementioned level, profit-taking was seen in the market which compelled the benchmark index to shed earlier gains and ultimately settled the day at 71,695 levels."
Power, fertilizer & E&P sectors contributed to the sell-off the most where HUBC, EFERT, FFC, OGDC & MARI lost 497 points. On the flip side, FFBL, NATF and HINOON cumulatively added 71 points due to some buying interest witnessed in them.
The highest increase was recorded in Hallmark Company Limited shares, which rose
by Rs86.32 to Rs1,239.14 per share, followed by Sazgar Engineering Works Limited, which increased by Rs31.33 to Rs694.78 per share.
A significant decline was noted in Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited, which fell by Rs600.21 to Rs19,553.71 per share, followed by Nestle Pakistan Limited, which closed lower by Rs338.41 to Rs7,484.20 per share.
Brokerage Arif Habib Ltd saidthe PSX experienced a subdued start to the week as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the State Bank of Pakistan's Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
Hascol Petrol remained the volume leader with 60.072 million shares which closed higher by 58 paisas to Rs8.11 per share. Fauji Fert Bin followed it with 35.168 million shares, which closed higher by Rs1.84 to Rs35.62 per share.
Other significant turnover stocks included Pace (Pak) Ltd., K-Electric Ltd., Telecard Limited, Air Link Commun, DGK Cement, WorldCall Telecom, Adamjee Ins. XD and Cnergyico PK.In Future Market, 336 companies recorded trading, of which 105 increased, 222 decreased and 9 remained unchanged.