Stocks ended flat on Friday after swinging wildly as investors remained all worked up with every major economic indicators flashing red and no letup in sight, traders said.
Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Shares Index lost just 1.32 points or 0.0 percent to 43,232.83 points, with the highest and the lowest of the day being 42,750.90 points respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said, stocks close under pressure on rupee instability and surging government bond yields.”
Foreign outflows, hike in industrial power tariff, uncertainty over the resumption of IMF (International Monetary Fund) programme contributed to the flat close, Mehanti added.
KSE-30 Shares Index ticked by only 20.28 points or 0.12 percent to close at 16,718.24 points. Traded shares dropped 99 million to 287.73 million from 386.75 million, whereas traded value slid to Rs10.27 billion from Rs14.06 billion. Market capital decreased to Rs7.414 trillion from Rs7.418 trillion. Out of total active scrips, 115 posted gains, 205 losses, while 10 remained unchanged.
Topline Securities in a report said a volatile session was observed at the exchange as the index traded between its intraday high of 356 points and intraday low of 481 points to finally close at 43,234 level (flat on day-on-day basis). PAKT, PKGS, FATIMA, ATLH, and ABL, contributed 251 points to the index, while LUCK, TRG, MLCF, DGKC, and CHCC eroded 187 points, the brokerage said.
Pakistan Tobacco was the top gainer of the day, up Rs66.63 to close at Rs1,050/share, followed by Sapphire Fiber, up Rs62.75 to end at Rs908/share. The highest losses were posted by Unilever Foods, which fell Rs900 to Rs19,500/share, followed by Rafhan Maize that dropped Rs266 to Rs9,509/share.
Arif Habib Ltd, a brokerage house, said bears ruled over the bulls due to concerns over alarming current account numbers, devaluation of rupee, and a big jump in treasury bills’ cut-off yields, indicative of a hawkish stance in the upcoming monetary policy.
Yesterday, a sharp downfall in the market occurred due to a huge selloff by mutual funds, which eventually created attractive opportunities for value hunters, it said. The brokerage said the market opened on a positive note as value hunters indulged in aggressive buying in the first session.
In the second session, across the board selling was witnessed as rupee closed at an all-time low of 176.77, down 0.2 percent day-on-day, the Arif Habib Ltd analysts said.
“Moving forward, we expect the market to remain volatile and recommend a cautious approach,” it reported. According to EFG Research, recently-released data and a relatively underwhelming market reaction to the recent policy rate hike have already increased pressure on the SBP to deliver yet another sizable hike.
“First, preliminary merchandise trade data for November points to a significant increase in imports to $8 billion (doubling year-on-year and hitting an all-time nominal high), in a clear sign of underlying strong domestic demand and resultant external pressure,” the brokerage said.
It further said the large import number explained why the USD-PKR did not react positively to the 150 basis points hike in November and neither to the resumption of the IMF programme and official signing of the Saudi deposits contract.
“Second, November’s inflation was another point of pressure with the headline number (11.5 percent) coming in higher than most expectations,” the EFG Research said.
Sectors contributing to the performance were cement (-80 points), technology (-63 points), engineering (-35 points), textile composite (-31 points) and refinery (-25 points).
WorldCall Telecom led volumes chart with 24.35 million shares, trailed by TPL Properties with 20.55 million shares.
Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Byco Petroleum, Unity Foods Ltd, TRG Pak Ltd, Telecard LimitedXB, Azgard Nine, Ghani Glo Hol, Silk Bank Ltd, and Maple Leaf.
Shares’ turnover in the future contracts increased to 128.15 million shares from 88.11 million shares.