Stocks slide overrising political noise

Stocks closed in the red on Monday recording a 0.85 percent decline due to increasing political noise, and pressure over news of share placement in the largest E&P company at a discounted price, dealers said.

Khurram Shehzad, chief commercial officer at JS Global Capital Ltd said, “There is nothing wrong in the market at large, but the news with respect to selling of some small stake of a foreign investor in OGDCL has an impact on the market since oil still has a significant weight in the index.”

However, the recent report that the government was gearing to raise a billion dollars from selling certificates to overseas Pakistanis to boost reserves and drawdown rising external debts, should have a positive impact on the market ahead, he added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index shed 0.85 percent or 389.62 points to close at 45,682.24 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 1.14 percent or 263.70 points to close at 22767.47 points. As many as 374 scrips were active of which 106 advanced and 250 declined, whereas 18 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 144.84 million shares as compared with the turnover of 197.38 million shares in the last session.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp attributed the decline to pre-budget anxiety and concerns for dwindling foreign exchange reserves. However, in the late session support was witnessed in selected blue chip scrips on likely forex receipts from bids for dollar savings certificate by June 2018.

“Global crude prices and surging current account deficit played a catalytic role in the bearish close in the earnings session at the PSX,” he added.

Mari Petroleum up 2.06 percent, railed after announcing the third quarter results for FY18 with earnings per share of Rs36, in line with expectations.

National Refinery, down 2.27 percent, and Attock Refinery, down 3.90 percent surprised investors, who expected better results.

Gandhara Nissan gained 1 percent after announcing that few units have been imported from France in completely built-up condition for trial and test following a signed importer’s agreement between the company and Renault Trucks SAS, France.

Companies with the highest gains included Colgate Palmolive, up Rs134 to close at Rs3,034/share, and Mari Petroleum, up Rs18.37 to close at Rs1,536.01/share.

Companies with the most losses were Rafhan Maize, down Rs300.00 to close at Rs8,100/share and Bata Pakistan, down Rs47.50 to close at Rs2,745/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Unity Foods Ltd with a turnover of 12.035 million shares. The scrip gained Rs1.33 to close at Rs28.01/share. Lowest volumes were witnessed in K-Electric with a turnover of 10.271 million shares. The scrip lost seven paisas to close at Rs7.04/share.