Profit-hunting stunts tranche rally at PSX

Stocks went into a rally on Thursday cheering IMF tranche go-head, but late profit-booking knocked most of the wind out of its sails as the day progressed, dealers said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw its benchmark KSE-100 shares index rising 0.4 percent or 181.97 points to close at 45,726.17 points. Volumes increased to 470.40 million from 409.68 million on Wednesday.

Arsalan Soomro at KASB Securities said stocks finished on a jubilant note as IMF’s Executive Board approved Pakistan's reviews to pave way for disbursement of $500 million.

"IMF's nod comes in at a time when country plans to raise dollars from international bonds. These measures shall continue to boost investor confidence as India-Pakistan's improving ties improve sentiments,” Soomro said.

As many as 394 scrips were active of which 182 advanced, 193 declined and 19 remained unchanged.

KSE-30 Shares Index also gained 0.26 percent or 49.33 points to close at 18,849.95 points.

Topline Securities in a note said the market continued its positive momentum, kicking off on a positive note remaining that way throughout the day after IMF’s approval to the next loan tranche of $500mn.

Further, anticipation of removal of the ban on trade with India also garnered positive sentiments.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stock closed bullish led by cement, banking, and energy sector after IMF

board approved reviews and release of $500 million tranche under reinstated $6 billion loan program.

“Oil stocks remained under pressure on weak global crude oil prices. Foreign inflows, stronger rupee and ECC decision to increase oil marketing companies (OMC) margins played a catalytic role in bullish activity at PSX”.

Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said rollover week triggered a profit-taking after the index went on to touch an intraday high of 456 points.

However this positivity was short-lived as investors saw

this as an opportunity to book profits on the higher side, Mulla said.

Major index movers for the day were TRG Pakistan, up 6.3 percent), Azgard Nine, up 7.3 percent, Lucky Cement, up 0.7 percent, Kot Addu Power Company, up 2.8 percent.

The main draggers were Meezan Bank, down 2.5 percent, ENGRO, down 0.9 percent, Hub Power Company, down 0.8 percent, and Pakistan Petroleum (PPL), down 0.8 percent.

Auto sector also remained in high gear with Pak Suzuki picking up 4.4 percent, Indus Motor Company 2.6 percent, Honda Cars 4.1 percent, and Ghandhara Nissan gaining 1.8 percent.

Analysts expect the market to remain volatile in the rollover week and recommend value-hunting in case of a downside.

Nestle Pakistan, adding Rs47.5 to close at Rs5,997.5/share, and Pakistan Tobacco, picking up by Rs46.33 to close at Rs1,599.98/share were the top gainers of the day.

Island Textile, down Rs72.5 to close at Rs2,000/share, and Sapphire Fiber, losing Rs54.32 to end at Rs840/share ended the day with highest losses.

Pakistan Telecommunication was the volume leader with 61.35 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan with a turnover of 39.009 million shares, and Byco Petroleum that saw a trade of 38.4 million shares.