Stocks on Friday stayed the beaten course for the third day as uncertainty over International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) prescription for the ailing economy and prospects of the visit of Holy Kingdom’s future sovereign confined investors to the sidelines, dealers said.
Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corporation, said the stocks closed flat amid pressure in selected scrips across the board on investor concerns over prevailing economic uncertainty.
Institutional support remained in oil stocks amid surging global oil prices and guesswork on likely $21 billion Saudi investment, Mehanti said.
“Investors' concerns on likely hike in power tariffs, surging circular debt, and higher fiscal debt over 6.3 percent of GDP dragged the market down,” Mehanti added.
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 0.05 percent or 20.31 points to close at 40,486.67 points, whereas KSE-30 shares index gained 0.05 percent or 10.37 points to end at 19,454.37 points.
Of 316 active scrips, 150 moved up, 152 retreated, and 14 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 93.001 million shares, compared to 123.619 million shares in the previous session.
Madiha Javed, head of research at Iqbal Ismail Securities, said market remained negative ahead of Saudi Crown Prince’s visit with investors waiting for finalisation of a potential investment. “Volumes were very thin with only 93 million shares traded, which is the lowest in the past 30 days,” Javed said.
All eyes are glued to the upcoming visit of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman as Pakistan is expected to get a $20 billion-plus economic package.
The government will take up preferential trade agreement and ease of business visas with Saudi crown prince who will be leading a high-profile delegation to hold talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday.
According to senior officials, Saudi Arabia is expected to announce $7 billion investment in the power sector and $2 billion in renewable energy including solar and wind projects. It is also expected to invest in mineral and mining projects including the reko diq, they said.
Few analysts were waiting for the final outcome of the IMF and government talks and the conditions to be imposed and amount approved. However, they continue to be concerned over the economy whose growth is forecast to hover between 3.5 to 4.5 percent, which is alarming.
A leading trader said despite positive news flow from macroeconomic perspective such as visit of Saudi prince and signing investment pacts, buying interest remained scant as such. Major volumes were mainly registered in banks, followed by chemical and cement.
The highest gainers were Services Industries Limited, up Rs30.00 to close at Rs800.00/share, and Pakistan Suzuki, up Rs14.25 to finish at Rs301.67/share.
Companies that booked highest losses were Rafhan Maize, down Rs100.00 to close at Rs7200.00/share, and Siemens Pakistan down Rs14.00 to close at Rs778.00/share.
Bank of Punjab recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 5.841 million shares. The bank’s scrip gained Rs0.24 to close at Rs13.59/share.
The lowest volumes were witnessed in Lotte Chemical recording a turnover of 10.009 billion shares, whereas the scrip lost Rs0.34 to end at Rs16.31/share.