Stocks shed 1.5 percent to close at 17-month low

Political tension in Islamabad and a weak rupee sent stocks to their lowest in 17 months on Monday as the index shed over 1.5 percent in a dull trade, dealers said.

“The market continued to crash hard, clocking in a fresh 2017 intra-day low, before bouncing slightly to close the day 1.5 percent down,” Topline Securities said in a post market note. “The benchmark KSE-100 year-to-date fell around 20 percent, while index crashed 27 percent from its peak.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) KSE 100-share index shed 1.53 percent or 598.30 points to close at 38,481.70 points. The highest index of the day remained at 39,437.89 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 38,374.39 points.

KSE-30 index also fell 324.67 points to 19,166.04 points against 19,490.71 points.

Turnover decreased 20 million shares to 129.42 million shares from 149.52 million shares. Trading value dropped to Rs5.94 billion from Rs7.33 billion, while market capital fell to Rs8.22 trillion from 8.32 trillion. Out of 367 companies active in the session, 45 closed in green, 308 in red while 14 remained unchanged.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said panic gripped investor sentiments amid concerns for political and economic uncertainty. He said stock fell across the board on rupee depreciation and surging import bill.

Market opened positive and early trade saw the benchmark index gained over 350 points, helped primarily by exploration and production sector. However, as the day progressed, institutional selling dragged down index where notable names across cements, fertilisers and banks bore the brunt and pulled the index in negative zone below 38,500 points level.

Hub Power, down 1.1 percent and Nishat Mills that stood to benefit from rupee depreciation, failed to trade higher despite rupee fell another one percent against greenback in interbank market, brokerage Elixir said in a report.

The highest increase was recorded in shares of Nestle Pakistan, up Rs120 to Rs12,195/share, followed by Khyber Tobacco, up Rs64.50 to Rs1,565/share. Major decline was noted in the shares of Wyeth Pak Ltd, down Rs71.75 to Rs1,498.25/share, followed by Sanofi-Aventis, down Rs59.25 to Rs1,269.69/share.

Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of WorldCall Telecom, TRG Pak Ltd, K-Electric Ltd, Azgard Nine, Shabbir Tiles, Dost Steels Ltd, Aisha Steel Mill, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, Japan Power and Sui Southern Gas Company.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 18.53 million shares. It dropped 15 paisas to close at Rs2.98/share. It was followed by TRG Pak Ltd with 8.30 million shares. It declined Rs1.69 to close at Rs32.14/share.

Turnover in the future contracts dropped to 29.44 million shares from 47.82 million shares traded in the previous session.