Stocks end flat amid profit booking, foreign outflows

The capital market ended flat on Tuesday amid profit booking, as equities that had risen sharply enticed investors to sell their holdings to book available gains, offloading was also sparked by the two-day shutter down strike, which resulted in increase in economic losses, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporations said, “Stocks closed lower amid higher trades as investors weighed International Monetary Fund (IMF) concerns over revenue shortfall by Rs113 billion for July-September 2019, subdued real GDP growth and higher inflation at 12.4 percent in FY20.”

Dismal quarterly financial results in auto and cement stocks, foreign outflows and uncertainty over outcome of political protests played a catalytic role in the bearish close, Mehanti added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 0.19 percent or 64.08 points to close at 33,797.51 points level. KSE-30 shares index followed suit with a low of 0.29 percent or 45.21 points to end at 15,795.25 points level.

Of 345 active scrips, 131 moved up, 199 retreated, and 15 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 225.084 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 135.633 million shares in the previous session. Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib, said, “The market witnessed selling pressure in oil and gas sector which led to some trimming in the overall index.”

Moreover, the market has been down because financial results of some of the investment and trading stocks came below expectation, which made some dents in sentiment, Salman added.

The index opened on a positive note, where limited gains were witnessed in the choice scrips. That helped the index cross 34,000 levels, but selling erupted from financial institutions and some of the leading investors, which reduced the overall gains. Analyst Danish Ladhani from JS Global said, “The market is expected to remain under pressure in the short run due to ongoing developments on the Azadi March.”

Furthermore, major contribution to total market volume came from Worldcall, Bank of Punjab, Pak International Bulk Terminal, and Fauji Cement Company. “Moving ahead we expect the market to remain choppy on the political front,” Danish added.

Acording to an analyst, scaling of the market above 34,000 levels made the index a bit heavy, inviting selling pressure or squaring of the positions. He said the market moved down because of the call by traders against imposition of general sales tax on several goods and with condition of CNIC on every purchase of above Rs50,000.

The IMF team has been in Islamabad, and as per the traders, the CNIC condition as well as the imposition of GST was being imposed as per IMF conditions. “For this, the government should find a solution that is agreeable for both of the parties to help revive economic activities,” a trader added.

The highest gainers were Pakistan Services, up Rs48.69 close at Rs1,040.00/share, and Service Industries Limited, up Rs35.88 to finish at Rs753.60/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Colgate Palmolive, down Rs90.24 to close at Rs1,714.77/share, and Sapphire Textile, down Rs52.55 to close at Rs998.53/share.

WorldCall Telecom recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 37.529 billion shares. The scrip gained Re0.11to end at Rs1.22/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Unity Foods Limited, recording a turnover of 5.259 million shares, whereas the scrip lost Re0.01 to end at Rs10.56/share.