Stocks see dull session as investors trim positions on fiscal worries

Stocks ended little changed on Wednesday as investors weighed the economic challenges facing the country amid a looming external financing gap and rising power tariffs, dealers said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index shed 20.89 points or 0.05 percent to close at 45,889.58 points. The highest index of the day remained at 46,035.09 points while the lowest level was recorded at 45,808.11 points.

“Stocks closed under pressure amid economic uncertainty after reports of noise over $4.5 billion external financing shortfall and overshoots of Rs1 trillion debt commitments from the federal budget FY23 impacting first IMFreview,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said.

The KSE-30 index also fell by 51.60 points or 0.32 percent to close at 16,086.97 points. Traded shares increased by 12 million shares to 129.372 million shares from 117.145 million shares. The trading value dropped to Rs3.639 billion from Rs4.110 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs6.801 trillion against Rs6.794 trillion. Out of 314 companies active in the session, 133 closed in green, 160 in red and 21 remained unchanged.

Analyst Naveed Nadeem at Topline Securities said another dull day was witnessed at the market as equities continued its lacklustre trend where the benchmark index was mostly directionless throughout the trading hours.

E&P, fertilizer and tech sectors contributed negatively to the index where investors chose to trim their position into PPL, FFC, SYS, OGDC & TRG as they lost 103 points, cumulatively. COLF, HUBC and UNITY added 113 points by being stars of the day.

The highest increase was recorded in Colgate Palm, which rose by Rs92.76 to Rs1,405.66 per share, followed by Reliance Cotton, which increased by Rs25 to Rs600 per share. A significant decline was noted in Bhanero Tex., which fell by Rs74.25 to Rs915.75 per share, followed by Mehmood Tex., which decreased by Rs36.10 to Rs460.60 per share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Ltd said the market witnessed another session marked by its inability to sustain the crucial 46,000 points level. One of the notable events during the session was the performance of PPL (-2.08 percent). The company reported its FY23 earnings with an EPS of 35.99, reflecting an impressive 83 percent increase. However, the dividend payout of Rs1.5 was below market expectations.

In terms of significant movements, COLG (+7.07 percent), UNITY (+4.24 percent), and HUBC (+1.58 percent) experienced notable gains, it reported. To generate excitement and potentially regain momentum, the index will need to make a decisive move above the 46,000 points level, the brokerage said.

Treet Corp remained the volume leader with 17.803 million shares which closed higher by 56 paisas to Rs17.12 per share. It was followed by SEARLR2 with 15.956 million shares, which closed lower by 52 paisas to Re0.25 per share.

Other significant turnover stocks included Pak Petroleum, WorldCall Telecom, Unity Foods Ltd, Nishat Chun Pow, The Organic Meat, Yousuf Weaving, Cnergyico PK and Maple Leaf. Shares’ turnover in the future contracts increased to 28.470 million shares from 27.384 million shares.