Stocks on Wednesday ended flat after losing early gains to late profit-taking, as investors await clarity on the lockdown since provinces and centre are yet to find a consensus on for how long the economic activities could be suppressed in the country, dealers said.
Ovais Ahsan, Chief Executive Officer at Optimus Capital Management said the market remained volatile, posting an intraday gain of 1.8 percent in the early hours of trading as investors cheered the government decision to ease lockdown conditions for some industries, but later lost almost all of it.
"The gains, however, proved short-lived as the benchmark index was flattened by heavy selling pressure in the oil exploration sector after global oil prices collapsed more than 10 percent overnight," Ahsan added.
Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.06 percent or 19.45 points to close at 31,242.19 points, while its KSE-30 index lost 0.40 percent or 55.18 points to end at 13,761.43 points level.
Of 354 active scrips, 209 advanced, 131 retreated, and 14 remained unchanged. Volumes stood at 185.594 million shares, as compared to 130.415 million on Tuesday.
Faizan Munshey, head of foreign institutional sales at Next Capital said the market opened higher in expectations of resumption of economic activity amid easing of lockdown by the federal government.
“However, selling was witnessed after the press conference of Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah which emphasised on continuing a strict lockdown in the province,” Munsehy said.
Faisal Shaji, strategist at Standard Capital said, the opening of the market was quite healthy as investors reacted to Prime Minister’s call for 'softening of lockdown' by allowing certain industries to resume operations.
“Before the closure of the session, profit-taking ensued, since there is still lack of confidence among local investors given the extension in the lockdown announced by Sindh government and an overall demand contraction in the economy,” Shaji explained.
Moreover, deceleration in global oil prices below $20 per barrel also eroded confidence, he added. Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib Securities said, "The market moved in a narrow band because of a dim world economic outlook released by the IMF”. “Downturn in demand also led to sharp fall in crude oil price, which has an impact on the oil and gas exploration shares in the domestic market".
Ahmed said trimming was witnessed in some index-heavy scrips, while some cement and steel scrips showed good performance as soon the ordinance would be released for reopening of construction sector, raising the demand of the products, Ahmad added.
Unilever Foods, up Rs500 close at Rs7,600/share, and Rafhan Maize Rs170 to finish at Rs6,720/share emerged as the highest gainers of the day, while Nestle Pakistan, down Rs249.98 to close at Rs5,560.02/share, and Sapphire Textile down Rs54.36 to close at Rs776/share, ended up as the top losers.
Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 22.514 million shares, while it gained Rs0.03 end at Rs23.08/share. The lowest volumes were witnessed in Lotte Chemical with 4.541 million shares, whereas the scrip lost Rs0.02 to end at Rs10.19/share.