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Thursday March 28, 2024

Stocks flat as investors pick fruits of six-session rally

By Our Correspondent
February 07, 2019

Stocks on Wednesday ended flat in a bearish market as investors made the most of the gains that are up for grabs after a six-session bull-run, while concerns the economy was still deep in the woods weighed on trade, dealers said.

Topline Securities in a report said the market was dragged down by profit-taking. “Sentiments plumped on reports that Finance Minister Asad Umar has told the premier International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout deal is not in the interest of Pakistan as it will unduly burden the vulnerable population and strain the economy further,” the brokerage said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 0.26 percent or 108.71 points to close at 41,505.68 points, while KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a drop of 0.31 percent or 62.14 points to end at 19,937.40 points.

Of 373 active scrips, 138 moved up, 220 retreated, and 15 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 205.164 billion shares, as compared to the turnover of 254.108 million shares in the previous session.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said stocks closed bearish amid late session profit-taking on investor concerns for economic uncertainty.

“Investor concerns over economic outcome of concessions in the mini-budget for energy sector amid pending circular debt, foreign outflows and ongoing political noise landed the PSX in red zone,” Mehanti added.

An analyst from Ismail Iqbal Securities said the arrest of senior Punjab minister by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) spurred negative sentiment in the market during the late trading hours.

A leading analyst said the market was bound to see some correction as the index in the last six sessions has gained more than 1,000 points, while in almost five weeks of 2019, it had recorded an improvement of more than 3000 points. “It has been healthy for the market and trimming in share values has been small, which might help witness some healthy rally in the coming sessions”, he said.

A senior market player said the market was confused over the government’s decision to shake hands with the IMF as a bailout would help cement the country’s steps to formulate strategy to put economy on track.

Another analyst said a positive sign was that volume had improved in the last couple of days because of the government’s decision to abolish the advance tax rate on buying and selling of shares.

“Everyone is anxiously waiting for the approval from the Parliament’s approval to the measures announced in the economic reform package last month,” the analyst added.

Sector-wise the worst performers were commercial banks and exploration and production as they chipped away 154 points, cumulatively. On the other hand fertilizer and cement sectors supported market by added 84 points, cumulatively.

The highest gainers were Rafhan Maize, up Rs340.00 to close at Rs7150.00/share, and Unilever Foods, up Rs275.01 to finish at Rs7625.00/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Colgate Palmolive, down Rs30.00 to close at Rs1970.00/share, and Service Industries Limited down Rs15.00 to close at Rs810.00/share.

Fauji Cement recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 17.542 billion shares. The scrip gained Rs0.53 to close at Rs22.77/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Bank of Punjab recording a turnover of 7.543 million shares, whereas the bank’s scrip lost Rs0.23 to end at Rs13.60/share.