PSX plateau persists on virus, regional risks

Stocks continued to crawl along the flatline on Wednesday as smart Covid lockdowns and geopolitical risks muted earnings’ excitement, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) KSE-100 Share Index gained just 10.97 points or 0.02 percent to close at 47,491.47 points, touching an intraday high of 47,595.72 points and a low of 47,443.88 points.

Muhammad Arbash, analyst at Topline Securities, said, investor interest was witnessed in textile sector, where NML, NCL, GATM, and GADT emerged as major gainers; however, on the flip side TRG dented the index most (32 points).

Analysts said even earnings could not trigger the session.

Trade volume increased 12 million shares to 508.28 million against 496.82 million shares, while traded value dropped to Rs16.04 billion against Rs16.24 billion. Market capital also reduced to Rs8.283 trillion from Rs8.296 trillion. Out of 435 active names, 172 advanced, 243 declined, while 20 remained unchanged.

Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said, stocks closed flat amid thin trade in the earnings season.

He said reports of $29.4 billion record remittances during FY21, over 36 percent LSM growth in May 2021, and above 56 percent increase in car sales in FY21 helped the index end positive.

Surging global crude oil prices, reports of 22 percent growth in banking deposit in FY21 and LSM growth of 14.57 percent during Jul-May FY21 supported the sentiment, Mehanti added.

KSE-30 Index, however, lost 32 points or 0.17 percent to 19,045.66 points.

Exide (Pakistan) emerged as the highest gainers of the day, strengthening Rs41.64 to reach Rs596.91 per share, followed by Indus Motor Co that added Rs38.38 to close at Rs1,240.23 per share.

Unilever Foods ended up as the most battered share of the session by losing Rs121 to close at Rs16,349 per share, followed by Philip Morris Pakistan, down Rs50.38 to end at Rs970.25 per share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in a report said the market remained range-bound, oscillating between -38 points and +114 points.

Large cap blue chip stocks (including ENGRO, POL, LUCK, SYS) kept the index balanced, which was otherwise under selling pressure in oil and gas exploration and production, oil and gas marketing companies, cement, steel and technology sectors, it said.

The brokerage said a worsening security situation in Afghanistan and imposition of Covid lockdown in Sindh made investors rethink their portfolio positions, in addition to facing CGT (Capital Gains Tax) liability to be settled by July 16, 2021.

Among the day’s well-traded stocks were WorldCall Telecom, Ghani Global Glass, TPL Corp Ltd, K-Electric Ltd, TPL Properties, Byco Petroleum, Fauji Foods Ltd, Treet Corp, Pakistan International Bulk, and Al-Shaheer Corp.

WorldCall Telecom was the highest traded scrip with 44.69 million shares.

The telecom lost 10 paisas to close at Rs3.42 per share. Ghani Global Glass was the second most traded shares with 44.07 million shares. It gained Rs1.38 to close at Rs29.82 per share.

Turnover in the future contracts increased to 75.70 million shares from 66.37 million traded on Tuesday.