Market takes a breather after 2-day rally

Stocks ended flat in choppy trade on Tuesday with index oscillating between positive and negative territories throughout the trading session, as investors paused after a rally that continued for two days, dealers said.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said investors were divided over the upcoming PDM strategy to pressurise the government. “Also, the oil and gas sector came under selling pressure due to the decrease in international oil prices. Meanwhile, the rising Covid positivity ratio also triggered profit-taking at higher levels.”

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.2 percent or 90.47 points to close at 44,857.06 points level. KSE-30 shares index gained 0.31 percent or 58.49 points to close at 18,628.02 points level.

As many as 405 scrips were active of which 168 advanced, 213 declined and 24 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 408.45 million shares compared with the turnover of 455.55 million shares in the last trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed higher led by selected scrips on investor speculations ahead of central bank’s key policy rate decision later this week.

“Pressure remained in oil scrips on weak global crude oil prices and government decision to maintain present local petroleum prices, while uncertainty remained on outcome of IMF conditions on corporate sector.”

Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said the market remained dull amid announcement of date for the monetary policy committee meeting, as investors feared a potential hike in interest rates.

Pressure was seen in the cement and steel sectors where Lucky Cement declined 0.2 percent, Kohat Cement declined 1.4 percent, Pioneer Cement was down 2.3 percent, DG Khan Cement was down 2.1 percent, Amreli Steel slipped 1.5 percent and Mughal Steel slipped 2.8 percent.

Oil prices in the international market were lower than the previous day, which negatively impacted local exploration and production (E&Ps) companies. Pakistan Petroleum was down 0.8 percent, Oil and Gas Development Company fell 0.8 percent, and Pakistan Oilfields declined 0.6 percent.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said market traded in a narrow range after posting an increase of around 2,500 points in the past two sessions.

Leveraged positions continued causing jitters every now and then, which kept activity in tech stocks as well as food sector a bit volatile. Cement sector stocks went up earlier in the session, however, selling pressure brought the levels down by the end of the session. Besides cement, oil and gas marketing companies, steel and E&P sectors bore selling pressure.

“Going forward, we expect the market to remain mixed in the coming sessions ahead of the monetary policy,” Arsalan Soomro at KASB Securities said.

Companies reflecting highest gains included Indus Motor Company, up Rs34.71 to close at Rs1,028.96/share, and Sanofi Aventis, up Rs33.33 to close at Rs905/share.

Companies reflecting most losses included Rafhan Maize, down Rs291 to close at Rs9,899/share, and Nestle Pakistan, down Rs136.25 to end at Rs5,900/share.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Unity Foods with a turnover of 37.23 million shares. The scrip gained Rs1.42 to close at Rs29.97/share. Telecard Limited was second with a turnover of 35.60 million shares. It gained 58 paisas to close at Rs7.93/share.

TRG Pakistan was third with a turnover of 28.55 million shares. It gained Rs9.67 to finish at Rs138.65.