Stocks end lower as profit-taking weighs

Stock ended lower on Tuesday, snapping a four-day winning streak, as investors booked profits in energy, fertiliser and cement sectors after a rally driven by expectations of gas tariff hikes, dealers said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)'s benchmark KSE-100 index shed 43 points or 0.08pc to close at 5,1027 points after hitting an intraday low of 50,624.38 points. The total volume remained at 145.555 million shares. Of the 100 index companies 38 closed up, 48 closed down, 1 was unchanged, while 13 remained untraded.

The index had gained 3.4 percent in the previous four sessions on hopes that the government would increase gas prices for industrial and commercial consumers to reduce the circular debt in the energy sector.

On Monday, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a hike of up to 194 percent in gas tariffs for different categories of consumers, effective from Nov. 1.

"Pressure witnessed at PSX amid geo political uncertainty and uncertainty over outcome of IMF review of under SBA," said analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp.

He said they weak rupee and industrial closures on import restrictions, and ECC decision for massive raise industrial gas tariff played a catalytic role in the bearish close.

The index was supported by miscellaneous with 28.33 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 20.22 points, Leather & Tanneries with 16.47 points, Automobile Assembler with 13.99 points, and Refinery with 8.84 points.

Companies adding points to the index were HUBC with 28.43, PSEL with 27.83, MTL with 17.84, SRVI with 16.47, and EFERT with 14.16 points.

Analyst Ali Najib at Topline Securities said it was a profit taking day at the market as investors chose to book profit just after the day commenced.

"There was a rally in energy sector stocks in anticipation of gas tariff hikes since last few days. Yesterday, the aforesaid long awaited hike got announced. That’s why, there was selling in energy sector stocks purely based on 'Buy or Rumors; Sell on News' phenomena," he believed.

During the day, E&P, Fertilizer & Cement sectors contributed negatively to the index where PPL, ENGRO, OGDC, FFC & CHCC lost 146 points, cumulatively. On the flip side, HUBC, PSEL and MTL witnessed some buying interest as they added 74 points collectively.

The All-Share index closed at 33,871.01 with a net loss of 47.97 points.

Total market volume was 321.404 million shares compared to 364.071 from the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs11.09 billion showing a decrease of Rs4.84bn. There were 152,644 trades reported in 339 companies with 143 closing up, 168 closing down and 28 remaining unchanged.