Stocks hit the skids on Tuesday, driven by technology and cement, after losing early gains to a late selloff triggered by a global oil and equity rout, traders said.
KSE-100 Shares Index, country’s key capital market gauge, shed 519.36 points or 1.12 percent to settle down at 46,008.85 points at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The index hit a day high of 46,833.50 points and a low of 45,775.91 points.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed bearish on ongoing global equity selloff and falling crude oil prices. Central bank’s hawkish monetary policy, concerns over foreign outflows, surging current account deficit, circular debt at Rs2.28 trillion, and falling rupee made the stocks bleed, Mehanti said.
KSE-30 Shares Index also fell by 243.05 points or 1.32 percent to 18,178.91 points. Traded shares, however, increased 131 million to 325.88 million from 194.72 million shares. Trading value also rose to Rs12.32 billion from Rs8.07 billion. Market capital shrank to Rs7.99 trillion from Rs8.093 trillion. Of 519 actives in the session, 103 advanced, 398 retreated, while 18 closed without a change.
Analyst Haris S Khan at Topline Securities said the index witnessed a volatile session after investors digested the 25bps rate hike announced by the central bank’s monetary policy committee on Monday.
The index initially witnessed an intra-day high of 46,833 (up 0.66 percent) but succumbed to selling pressure near the close of the day, Khan said. Moreover, he added that investors also took to the sidelines as they monitored a selloff in the international financial markets coupled with rising commodity prices.
The highest increase was recorded in shares of Nestle Pakistan, which rose by Rs104.99 to Rs5,910 per share, followed by Colgate Palm XD XB that strengthened by Rs40.10 to Rs2,438.08 per share.
A major decline was noted in shares of Pakistan Tobacco, which fell by Rs41 to Rs1,155 per share, followed by Gatron Industries that fell by Rs32.99 to Rs480.01 per share. According to a Arif Habib Ltd note, selling was witnessed across the board, with heavy implication on technology and cement sectors.
Regardless of the steep decline in index, overall trading volumes remained low comparative to the high days seen in outgoing fiscal, the brokerage said. Stocks that contributed positively to the index included HMB (+18 points), MCB (+18 points), BAFL (+14 points), ANL (+14 points) and COLG (+7 points). The laggards included SYS (-53 points), MEBL (-37 points), HBL (-34 points), LUCK (-32 points), and TRG (-23 points).
Telecard Limited was on the top of the volume chart with 28.11 million shares. It gained five paisas to Rs22.06 per share. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 26.43 million shares that closed down by eight paisas to Rs3.11 per share.
Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Telecard Limited, WorldCall Telecom, TPL Corp Ltd, Byco Petroleum, TRG Pakistan Ltd, Bank Al-Falah XD, Azgard Nine, Bank of Punjab, Ghani Global Holdings, and K-Electric Ltd. Turnover in the future contracts surged to 281.96 million shares from 186.83 million on Monday.