Profit-taking pulls KSE-100 index down by 1,509 points

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a sharp decline on Tuesday as selling pressure, driven by profit-taking and uncertainties surrounding the futures contracts rollover week, pulled the benchmark KSE-100 index down by 1,509.61 points or 1.33 per cent.

The KSE-100 index closed at 112,414.81 points, after trading within a range of 2,742.07 points. The intraday high reached 115,036.49 (+1,112.08 points), while the low touched 112,294.42 (-1,629.99 points). The total trading volume for the index stood at 352.68 million shares.

Despite opening on a positive note and briefly crossing the 115,000 mark, profit-taking erased earlier gains. Analysts attributed the downturn to several factors, including pressure from futures contracts rollover, political uncertainty over government-PTI negotiations, a weak rupee, declining global crude oil prices, and institutional selling in overbought stocks.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, remarked, “Profit-taking was observed amid pressure from futures rollover and uncertainty surrounding government-PTI talks. Weakness in the rupee, falling crude oil prices and institutional selling acted as catalysts for the bearish activity.”

Ali Najib, head of sales at Insight Securities, noted in his post-trading commentary, “Profit-taking and value-hunting behaviours influenced the index’s movement. While the market showed optimism early in the session, investors adopted varied strategies throughout the day, leading to a 1.33 per cent decline in the index.”

He highlighted that in the first half of the session, investors engaged in profit-taking ahead of the year-end, while others resorted to value hunting in the latter half.

Key stocks such as FFC, MARI, MCB, HUBC and Engro faced significant selling pressure, collectively dragging the index down by 851 points. On the other hand, UBL, DAWH, SNGP, TRG and PSEL added 354 points to the index.

Maaz Mullah, an analyst at Topline Securities, pointed out the day’s volatility, stating, “The KSE-100 index oscillated between an intraday high of 1,112 points and a low of 1,629 points due to profit-taking and bearish sentiment. By the close of trading, the index had shed 1,509 points, or 1.33 per cent, to settle at 112,414.80.”

He explained that concerns over rising leverage positions and increasing borrowing costs heightened investor risk perceptions, prompting portfolio trimming. The impending December contracts also added further pressure, resulting in cautious and selective trading.

Trading activity remained robust, with 879 million shares traded and a turnover of Rs54 billion. WTL led the volume chart with 127 million shares traded.

Among the 100 index companies, 21 closed higher, 78 ended lower, and one remained unchanged.

Top losers during the day were PKGP (-9.98 per cent), KOSM (-5.33 per cent), PTC (-5.05 per cent), MUGHAL (-4.83 per cent), and CNERGY (-4.57 per cent).

Top gainers were PGLC (+10.03 per cent), SNGP (+6.35 per cent), TRG (+4.86 per cent), APL (+3.46 per cent), and DAWH (+3.30 per cent).

The biggest contributors to the index’s decline were FFC (-335.8 points), MARI (-191.48 points), MCB (-143.86 points), HUBC (-110.23 points), and ENGRO (-68.76 points).

Conversely, UBL (+155.80 points), DAWH (+82.00 points), SNGP (+61.76 points), TRG (+37.35 points) and PSEL (+16.83 points) helped offset the losses.