Stocks fall on IMF, FATF concerns

Stocks retreated on Thursday as investors dumped risky shares after IMF tranche talks ended inconclusively amid FATF uncertainty, dealers said.

The benchmark KSE-100 shares index shed 0.31 percent or 151.66 points to close at 48,480.90 points at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The ready market volumes stood at 936.66 million shares compared with the turnover of 1.22 billion shares in the last trading session.

Topline Securities in a note said equities closed negative mostly owing to lackluster activity at the bourse today as all eyes were set on FATF (Financial Action Task Force) meeting due next week.

Engro hurt the index the most as it knocked out 21 points, meanwhile cements and financial sectors remained the major laggards in today’s trading session, the brokerage said.

Out of 416 active scrips, 171 gained, 221 lost, and 24 ended neutral.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed lower on concerns over a raise in power tariff for industrials approved by NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority), and surge in local petroleum products prices.

He said oil and cement scrips outperformed on surging global oil prices, Rs329 billion development commitments of Sindh government and Rs560 billion of Punjab in the provincial budgets for the fiscal year 2021-22.

However, rupee instability and foreign outflows pushed the stocks in the red.

KSE-30 Shares Index shed 0.39 percent or 77.25 points to close at 19,547.77 points.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in a report said the market saw persistent selling pressure that was felt across the board and as a result the index traded between -201 points and +246 points, closing the session lower.

In the exploration and production (E&P) sector, Oil and Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum both traded lower, while Pakistan Oilfields showed price uptick, whereas Cement sector traded in a narrow range, the brokerage report said.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said the benchmark index initiated the trading session in green zone as G-20 members agreed to suspend debt payments for Pakistan.

However, volatility was witnessed as the negotiations between Pakistan and IMF (International Monetary Fund) ended without consensus over upcoming tranche, the analyst said.

“In addition to this, the government has increased the petrol prices of all petroleum products up to 4.0 percent for the next 15 days,” he said.

Expecting the market to move both ways, analysts advise investors to book profits at higher levels.

Pakistan Tobacco, up Rs60 to close at Rs1,370/share, and Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs46.57 to end at Rs2,243.38/share, were the top gainers of the session.

Unilever Foods, down Rs250 to close at Rs16,550/share, and Rafhan Maize down Rs234.55 to end at Rs9,455.45/share, took the biggest hits in the day.

Highest volumes were witnessed in K-electric with a turnover of 114.97 million shares. The scrip lost 22 paisas to close at Rs4.47 share. Worldcall Telecom was second with a turnover of 87.34 million shares. It shed 13 paisas to close at Rs3.84/share. Byco Petroleum was third with a turnover of 63.18 million shares. It shed 16 paisas to finish at Rs12.86.