Pakistan stocks fall ahead of earnings; investors book profit

Stocks declined on Friday as they finally underwent a longawaited correction while investors squared their positions ahead of second-quarter earnings, dealers said. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed bearish amid institutional profit taking across the board ahead of major earning announcement due next week. “Concerns over ailing exports, pending circular debt issues and foreign outflows played a catalytic role in bearish close in the earning season at the PSX.” The Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark KSE-100 shares index shed 306.52 points or 0.62 percent to close at 49,210.50 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 210.66 points or 0.78 percent to end at 26,739.23 points. As many as 432 scrips were active of which 161 advanced, 263 declined and 8 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 514.224 million as compared to 563.160 million shares a day earlier. Abrar Juma at Global Research said after a two-day rally of 650 points, the local bourse witnessed a gloomy session as index remained negative for most of the day and closed with a negative change of 306 points. “KSE-100 index opened on an optimistic note with a positive change of more than 450 points with major support coming from increasing international oil prices, however, the index succumbed to selling pressure after it failed to break out from its psychological barrier of 50k.” Banking sector remained the major laggard to drag index down by 171 points as investors expected a cut in policy rate in upcoming monetary policy. HUBCO down 1.76 percent dragged the index down by 34 points as investors tried to book their profits after a rally of two days. Major supports towards the index came from Kot Addu Power (KAPCO) up 5.0 percent as rumor for divestment of government’s stake surfaced the market. Going forward, analysts expect market to remain under pressure owing to expected profit taking after a continuous rise of eight weeks. Companies reflecting highest gains include Sanofi Aventis up by Rs136.18 to end at Rs2868.12/share and Pakistan Tobacco up Rs50.29 to end at Rs1262.80/share. Companies reflecting highest losses include Bata Pakistan down Rs197.70 to Rs4202.30/share and Colgate Palmolive down Rs89.99 to end at Rs1710/share. Highest volumes were witnessed in First Dawood bank with a turnover of 28.824 million shares. The scrip gained 22 paisas to close at Rs7.85/share. Pace Pakistan was second with a turnover of 24.603 million shares. It shed 71 paisas to end at Rs11.3/share. Sui southern Gas was third with a turnover of 24.168 million shares. It gained Rs1.35 to finish at Rs37.74/share.