Stocks mute in mixed trade as bailout fears persist

Stocks on Monday ended mute in erratic trade a day after a record rout triggered by concerns over the alarming economic fallout of International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) bailout deal terms that have kept the investors on tenterhooks so far, dealers said.

Topline Securities in its daily market review said approval of amnesty scheme arrested the intraday loss of 209 points.

"Cyclical stocks continued to feel pinch amidst anticipated slowdown in economy going forward," the brokerage added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 15.29 percent or 0.05 points to close at 33,885.09 points level. KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a high of 0.12 percent or 19.27 points to end at 16,041.70 points level.

Of 322 active scrips, 93 moved up, 205 retreated, and 24 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 105.706 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 121.210 million shares in the previous session.

Madiha Javed, head of research at Ismail Iqbal Securities, said the benchmark index remained mixed throughout the session today. “OGDC, HBL and MCB managed to all close in green after MSCI’s semi-annual index review confirmed status-quo in the MSCI Emerging Market Index”. Javed said power generation and distribution stocks closed in green after likely reports that government had agreed with IMF to increase power tariff by 20 percent in two phases. “Auto stocks closed in red after data released by PAMA showed April auto sales were down 24 percent year-on-year,” she said.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said the conditions to be enforced following the agreement with the IMF were yet not clear. “The disclosure and the time frame for the implementation would help clear course for fresh investment in the stock market,” Ahmad said.

The market was unsettled since morning, trading between 34,067, the highest level, and 33691 points, the lowest. The market received couple of good developments which supported the overall sentiment. Firstly the MSCI kept the PSX status in the Emerging Market as against earlier perception that due to substantial losses it might be demoted. But the case was different and PSX remained glued to Emerging Market index.

Another positive development was the continuous inflows from the foreign financial institutions as in three weeks these investors booked deals amounting to $32 million.

Auto sector received heavy battering after sales dropped by 24 percent to 19,437 units in the month of April compared with the same month last year. Analysts said it was due to higher car prices which discouraged the buyers.

A leading trader said investors were bit perturbed over the rise in electricity and gas tariff as it would be additional burden on the commercial and non-commercial consumers.

The highest gainers were ICI Pakistan, up Rs18.38 to close at Rs613.14/share, and Jubilee Life Insurance, up Rs12.91 to finish at Rs317.91/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Rafhan Maize, down Rs210 to close at Rs6200/share, and Colgate Palmolive, down Rs100 to close at Rs1950.00/share.

K-Electric Limited recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 7.094 million shares. The scrip lost Rs0.06 to close at Rs3.92/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Pakistan Elektron recording a turnover of 3.248 million shares, whereas the scrip lost Rs1.04 to end at Rs20.49/share.