Pakistan stocks end flat in absence of triggers

Pakistan Stocks Exchange (PSX) closed almost flat on Thursday as the investors remained on the sidelines in absence of major triggers, dealers said.

Analyst Ali Raza at Elixir Securities said equities closed a little changed amid lacklustre trading with the benchmark KSE 100-share Index trading range-bound in a narrow band of 290 points.

“Activity in the wider market was relatively dull as local institutions traded alone in the index names in absence of major triggers, while ongoing proceedings on Prime Minister’s family cases related to corruption allegations also kept most investors cautious,” Raza said.

The benchmark index of the PSX gained 0.02 percent or 8.64 points to close at 48,713.63 points. KSE 30-share Index shed 0.01 percent or 2.15 points to end at 26,549.19 points. As many as 420 shares were active; of which 211 closed up, 182 ended down and 27 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 329.241 million as compared to 403.805 million shares a day earlier. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks showed recovery, led by fertiliser and auto shares on strong earnings outlook.

Oil refineries outperformed others after surge in sales of petroleum and lubricant products. Foreign inflows, upbeat data on urea off-take, recovery in US crude prices above $53/barrel and upbeat consumer price index Inflation data favoured leveraged stocks in auto, steel and cement sectors.

Notable across financials, cements and oils ended in red on mild profit-taking. However, fertilisers weathered the pressure and ended green with Fauji Fertilizer up 1.7 percent. Engro Foods, up five percent, stood strong and closed at a new record high. National Refinery rose 4.9 percent with investors cheering the company’s announcement of reducing its financing requirements for refining facility up-gradation by partly funding it with internal cash generation.

Analysts expect volatile and range-bound trading with investors looking for institutional flows to gauge market direction. Companies posting highest gains include Ghandhara Industries, up Rs40.04 to close at Rs841/share and National Refinery, up Rs27.90 to close at Rs595.42/share.

Companies, posting major losses, include Unilever Foods, down Rs100 to end at Rs5,900/share and Phillip Morris Pakistan, falling Rs90 to end at Rs2,660/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Aisha Steels Limited with a turnover of 24.023 million shares. The share gained 67 paisas to close at Rs17.71/share. Dost Steel Mill was second with a turnover of 21.074 million shares. It inched up 35 paisas to end at Rs13.28/share. K-Electric Limited was third with a turnover of 13.04 million shares. It shed 10 paisas to finish at Rs9.29/share.