Stocks fall more than 1pc as foreign investors continue selling spree

Stocks declined more than 1 percent on Friday as foreign fund houses continued selling and the overall market sentiment remained depressed due to weak macroeconomic indicators and uncertain political situation, dealers said.

Habib Metro-Financial Services in its post-market note said selling pressure was clearly evident in banking, cements, steel and automobiles. However, a dicey political front with interim government’s details still unclear and a waning macroeconomic landscape poses a potent near-term risk, it said.

“We expect the index to be further pummelled in the upcoming week... (due to 50 basis points increase in interest rate) which warrants a cautious stance,” the brokerage said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index shed 1.09 percent or 462.07 points to close at 42,074.09 points.

KSE-30 shares index shed 1.07 percent or 223.10 points to close at 20,620.20 points.

As many as 313 scrips were active of which 78 advanced and 214 declined, whereas 21 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 109.67 billion shares as compared to the turnover of 127.17 billion shares in the previous session.

Hammad Aslam, director research at Elixir Securities, said investors remained wary of the deteriorating balance of payment situation despite positive news flow on bilateral swap arrangement with China and imposition of regulatory duties on a select list of items. The deadlock over the consensus on interim prime minister did not help the sentiments either, he added.

“While some local institutions and long term investors are likely to have availed the opportunity to grab shares at attractive valuations, the continued aggressive sell-off by foreign investors, particularly in banking stocks, kept the overall market under pressure,” Aslam added.

The benchmark witnessed the downward slide on the back of declining foreign reserves, which fell below the $17 billion mark by the end of last week, dealers said.

Companies with the highest gains included Island Textile, up Rs46.97 to close at Rs1,078.48/share, and Gatron Industries, up Rs11.93 to close at Rs254.50/share.

Companies with the most losses were Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs108.45 to close at Rs2,061.55/share, and Colgate Palmolive, down Rs50.00 to close at Rs2,800.00/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in First Dawood Bank with a turnover of 10.638 million shares.

The bank’s scrip gained 3 paisas to close at Rs5.06/share. It was followed by Unity Foods Limited with a turnover of 4.994 million shares. Its scrip gained Rs1.33 to close at Rs28.11/share.

Lowest volumes were witnessed in Pakistan Elektron with a turnover of 11.536 million shares. Its scrip lost Rs1.69 to close at Rs34.33/share.