Stocks on Friday zigzagged in a narrow band to end tad lower, chiefly because no positive triggers were currently in sight, while economic fears arising from a spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country also weighed on trade, dealers said.
Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 0.14 percent or 44.45 points to close at 32,806.38 points, while KSE-30 hit a low of 0.02 percent or 2.17 points to end at 14,422.30 points.
Topline Securities in a market note said, “Dull activity was observed at the local bourse with thin volumes”.
“The index traded predominantly in the green zone during the short session; however, selling towards the end led to a red close”. The brokerage said exploration and production (E&P) sector, having a significant weightage in the index provided support to the market. Of 332 active scrips, 101 were up, 209 retreated, and 22 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 120.578 million shares, as compared to a turnover of 204.362 million shares in the previous session.
Ovais Ahsan, chief executive officer at Optimus Capital Management, said, “The market saw a mixed session as investors stayed cautious in reaction to increasing number of COVID-19 in the country”. Ahsan added that the third quarter earnings reports from key oil and cement companies also induced a wait and watch mood.
“Lower volumes were witnessed due to the short Friday session with investors remaining circumspect ahead of the weekend”, he said.
Samiullah Tariq, director research at Arif Habib Limited said, “Trading was limited owing to weekend consideration and also uncertainty owing to COVID-19 forced investors to play safe”. Furthermore, Tariq said World Health Organization (WHO) forecast about a rise in coronavirus cases and causalities made investors bit jittery and hesitant to take long positions, which resulted in somewhat muted performance of the market.
“The stock market opened positive and kept oscillating between negative and positive zones throughout the trading session on the last day of futures rollover,” Tariq added.
Sateesh Balani, director research at Ismail Iqbal Securities said, “Equities closed flattish during the day after slight volatility”. Balani said trading remained lackluster with volumes around half of the yesterday's turnover as pre-Ramzan impact kicked in.
Fauji Fertilizer, Hubco, Systems Limited outperformed and drove index gains which was offset by FFC, PAKT and PSO, Balani added.
In the cement sector, LUCK and MLCF announced their 3QFY20 result announcement in which they posted EPS of Rs4.45 and LPS (loss per share) of Rs.0.87 respectively, earning posted by both the cement companies were higher than industry consensus on account of higher than expected gross margins. On the other hand, OGDC in E&P sector posted EPS (earning per share) of Rs.7.08 for its 3QFY20, which was higher than expectation on account of higher net sales booked by the company.
The top gainers were Unilever Foods, up Rs441.75 close at Rs7,999.00/share, and Sapphire Fibre, up Rs45.24 to finish at Rs653.75/share.
Phillip Morris Pakistan, down Rs156.52 to close at Rs1930.47/share, and Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs58.33 to close at Rs1629.67/share, were the top losers of the day.
Hascol Petrol recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 14.338 million shares. Whereas the scrip lost Rs0.33 end at Rs14.60/share. The lowest volumes were witnessed in Askari Bank recording a turnover of 2.555 million shares, whereas the scrip gained Rs0.09 to end at Rs14.22/share.