Stocks track world rout; FATF angst weighs

Stocks on Monday drifted down as traders raised guard in the wake of a global equity rout ahead of FATF moot at the start of rollover week, dealers said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Share Index lost 226.15 points or 0.47 percent to end at 48,012.52 points. Haris S Khan at Topline Securities said equities witnessed a range-bound session with the benchmark index printing an intra-day high of 48,370 points, up 0.27 percent, and an intra-day low of 47,964, down 0.57 percent.

The start of the futures rollover week, with an open position of Rs28.9 billion, coupled with the ongoing FATF (Financial Action Task Force) meeting kept the market in check, he added.

Major laggards in today’s session were LUCK, PSO, MCB, COLG, and ENGRO that cumulatively dented the benchmark index by near 103 points, Khan said.

Out of 411 active names in the session, 163 advanced, 233 declined, while 15 remained unchanged. Tracking the main index, KSE-30 Shares Index also saw an erosion of 86 points or 0.44 percent to 19,339.65 points.

However, turnover increased by 89 million shares to 839.18 million against 750.56 million shares, while trading value decreased to Rs15.87 billion against Rs20.66 billion. Moreover, the market capital dropped to 8.357 trillion from 8.394 trillion.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks fell sharply lower amid slump in global equities, consolidation in the post budget session and reports of Pakistan-IMF deadlock over 6th review under Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Investor concerns over hike in power tariff and political uncertainty led to the bearish close, Mehanti said.

Highest increase was recorded in shares of Sanofi-Aventis, which rose Rs63.98 to Rs989.98 per share, followed by Bhanero Textile that improved Rs59 to Rs1,059 per share.

Major decline was noted in the shares of Unilever Foods, which fell Rs840 to Rs15,710 per share, followed by Colgate Palmolive that lost Rs98 to Rs2,700 per share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in a report said uncertainty prevailed during the session due to concerns over increase in oil prices giving rise to inflation as well as a rise in rupee-dollar parity, which caused the investors to take a cautious approach.

Despite increase in cement price (per bag) in the outgoing week, cement and steel sector stocks ended lower, the brokerage said.

Though oil prices have maintained stable ground, E&P (exploration and production) sector remained under selling pressure.

Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Silk Bank Ltd, Hum Network, WorldCall Telecom, Pakistan International Bulk, Fauji Foods Limited, Byco Petroleum, K-Electric Limited, Ghani Global Glass, Unity Foods Limited and First National Equities Limited.

Silk Bank Limited remained the volume leader with 235.1 million shares with an increase of 31 paisas to Rs2.14 per share. It was followed by Hum Network with 60.35 million shares with a drop of 25 paisas to Rs8.87 per share.

Turnover in the future contracts rose to 329.76 million shares from 170.54 million shares traded in the previous session.