Stocks end flat as investors opt for profit taking

The capital market ended flat on Tuesday as investors went for profit taking on the back of surge in stock prices during the last three sessions supported by subdued pressure over political protests by the opposition parties, dealers said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporation said, “Stocks closed higher led by selected scrips across the board, as investors’ fears subsided over political protests and upbeat data on trade deficit, exports and cement dispatches in October 2019.” Falling bond yields, higher global equities and crude oil prices, surging foreign exchange reserves and rupee stability played a catalytic role in the bullish close amid higher trades at the stock market, Mehanti added.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.23 percent or 80.85 points to close at 35,358.31 points level. KSE-30 shares index went down 0.03 percent or 5.55 points to end at 16,526.59 points level.

Of 370 active scrips, 194 up, 153 retreated, and 23 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 308.484 million shares, as compared with the turnover of 207.782 million shares in the previous session.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib, said, “The market closed on positive nod but received volley of profit taking because of continuous rise in the share values during the last three sessions.”

The market has been strong as some key developments have boosted investor sentiment, including decline in current account and trade deficits, increase in the number of tax filers and sharp rise in portfolio investment in the first quarter, Salman added.

A leading trader said the market has entered overbought zone and some correction has been in the offing. The market has scored around 1,500 points in the last three sessions, which enticed investors to sell their portfolios to book available gains. The stock market needs some positive triggers on the economic front to go beyond 36,000 levels.

A rally commenced on back of fresh buying in the cement sector following good sales numbers. The total cement sales during the month of October 2019 grew by nine percent to close at 4.9 million tons, while in the first four months of the current fiscal year sales grew by five percent to 16.1 million tons.

Khurram Schehzad, senior capital market expert said the market has increased 23 percent on back of falling yields in PIBs, continuous flow in portfolio account, better key economic indicators and stability in rupee against dollar.

Banks and E&P sector largely resisted the increase in index, besides Lucky Cement. Fertiliser sector showed mixed trend, however, chemical, O&GMCs and auto sector contributed positively to the Index

The highest gainers were Colgate Palmolive, up Rs70.25 close at Rs1,998.00/share, and Indus Motors, up Rs48.22 to finish at Rs1,012.76/share.

Companies that booked highest losses were Island Textile, down Rs87.15 to close at Rs1,655.91/share, and Sapphire Textile, down Rs43.78 to close at Rs832.00/share.

WorldCall Telecom recorded the highest volumes with a turnover of 81.714 billion shares. The scrip gained Re0.28 to end at Rs1.48/share.

The lowest volumes were witnessed in Pak Elektron, recording a turnover of 7.658 million shares, whereas the scrip gained Re0.1 to end at Rs19.06/share.