Stocks end lower after finance minister Dar relieved on sick leaves

Stocks weakened on Thursday as investors booked profits in the wake of the government decision to send finance minister Ishaq Dar on leaves, dealers said.
They said across the board selling was witnessed ahead of the roll-over week. “… index fell as Pakistan’s embattled finance minster Ishaq Dar took a medical leave of absence, while his responsibilities will be handed over to a team of economic advisors led by the incumbent Prime Minister (Shahid Khaqan Abbasi), Topline Securities said in a post market comment.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 shares index shed 0.80 percent or 325.67 points to close at 40,266.21 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 0.91 percent or 187.37 points to close at 20,303.68 points.
As many as 344 scrips were active of which 119 advanced, 216 declined and 9 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 101.839 million shares as compared with the turnover of 156.98 million shares a day earlier.
The government had relieved Dar of his duties for three months. He is receiving medical treatment in London for a heart condition, while an accountability court had issued an arrest warrant against him after he missed multiple court appearances on charges that he had amassed wealth beyond his known sources of income.
Analysts said recent downgrades in the MSCI EM Index, foreign outflows and ongoing political noise also dented market sentiment. “Further, independent power producers (IPPs), oil marketing companies (OMCs) and refineries were under the gun as participants were concerned over looming furnace oil glut given plant closures,” Topline note added.
Gains in global oil prices holding near $58/bbl, highest in 2 years as US EIA drawdown beat expectations, failed to spur interest in oil and gas scrips.
TPL Trakker took off as a minister commented that motorcycles in Sindh should be installed with trackers. K‐Electric shed 3.6 percent as investors looked to book gains after last day’s 10 percent surge, while Attock Refinery (ATRL), down 5.0 percent, wiped the floor on low utilization news, while Hub Power (HUBC), shed 2.9 percent as an official commented that plant was running low.
Companies reflecting highest gains include Faisal Spinning up Rs11.25 to close at Rs236.99/share and Sazgar Engineering up Rs9.11 to close at Rs191.36/share. Companies reflecting most losses include Nestle Pakistan down Rs400.01 to close at Rs10,999.99/share and Sapphire Textile down Rs93.49 to end at Rs1,776.46/share.
Highest volumes were witnessed in K-Electric with a turnover of 9.08 million shares. The scrip shed 21 paisas to close at Rs5.67/share. TPL Trakker was second with a turnover of 7.64 million shares. It gained Rs1.0 to close at Rs8.07/share. Worldcall Telecom was third with a turnover of 7.48 million shares. It shed 02 paisas to finish at Rs3.02/share.