Stocks tread water in trendless trade

Stocks on Tuesday treaded water mostly because IMF and FATF concerns did not let the market find a trend, dealers said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Share Index lost 25.38 points or 0.05 percent to close at 47,987.14 points.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed lower amid pressure in global equities and crude oil price.

Surge in industrial power tariff, uncertainty over FATF (Financial Action Task Force) decision next month over Pakistan exclusion from grey list, concerns over Pakistan-IMF (International Monetary Fund) deadlock over 6th review under EFF, and rupee instability dragged the market down, Mehanti said.

The index hit an intraday high of 48,154.80 points, while it touched a day-low of 47,932.03 points during the session.

KSE-30 Shares Index also inched 14.59 points or 0.08 percent lower to close at 19,325.06 points.

Turnover shrank 229 million shares to 610.74 million against 839.18 million, while trading value eased to Rs15.52 billion as against Rs15.87 billion on Monday. The market capitalisation ticked down to 8.351 trillion from 8.357 trillion in the previous session.

Out of 420 active scrips in the session, 162 advanced, 236 retreated, while 22 ended neutral.

Analyst Haris S Khan at Topline Securities, said the market witnessed another choppy session for the second consecutive day of the week.

Textile sector came under the limelight amid devaluation of rupee in the inter-bank market, the analyst said.

The rupee fell to its lowest level in three-and-a-half months on Monday because of higher import payments, while the expected delay in the sixth review of the IMF’s $6 billion loan programme also weighed on the local unit.

Major positive contributors were SYS, MARI, and KTML that added around 71 points to the benchmark index, while PSEL, UNITY, and OGDC brought the index down by 54 points, Khan added.

Highest increase was recorded in shares of Unilever Foods, which rose Rs790 to Rs16,500 per share, followed by Bata Pakistan that increased Rs48.95 to Rs1,749.95 per share.

Major decline was noted in shares of Pak Services, which lost Rs68.26 to Rs841.86 per share, followed by Sapphire Textile that shed Rs31.60 to Rs895 per share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Ltd said lack of direction in the market and docile reaction to price triggers (particularly crude oil) led the market into obscurity.

Selling pressure remained evident in cement, exploration and production, oil and gas marketing companies, steel, technology, and power sectors, the brokerage said.

It added that textile sector did see some positive activity with NCL, NML, GATM, and ILP showing better price performance.

Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Silk Bank Ltd, WorldCall Telecom, K-Electric Ltd, Azgard Nine, TPL Corp Ltd, Ghani Global Glass, Hum Network, Byco Petroleum, Fauji Foods Ltd, and Treet Corp.

Silk Bank Ltd was the volume leader with 75 million shares and closed with loss of six paisas at Rs2.08 per share. It was followed by WorldCall Telecom with 48 million shares. The telecom shed 14 paisas to end at Rs3.86 per share.

Turnover in the future contracts jumped to 260.02 million shares from 329.76 million shares traded in the previous session.