Stocks eke out gains to close torpid week

Stocks were range bound at the close of a languid week marked with few market-moving catalysts and lingering concerns over whether longer-term inflation and a weak rupee could prompt the central bank to tighten its dovish policy sooner than expected, dealers said on Friday.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index closed down 150.93 points or 0.32 percent to 47,489.95 points shuttling between a day high of 47,752.95 points and a low of 47,431.20 points. KSE-30 index also decreased by 77.59 points or 0.41 percent to 18,965.35 points.

Volume fell by 47 million shares to 499.73 million shares while trading value dropped to Rs13.65 billion from Rs15.37 billion. Market capital also slipped to Rs8.340 trillion from Rs8.364 trillion. Out of 473 companies active in the session, 151 increased, 300 decreased while 22 remained unchanged.

Dealers said the market largely traded in a narrow range. O&GMCs, cement, chemical, refinery and technology sectors continued seeing selling pressure from the previous couple of sessions. Lucky Cement saw a significant drop in the closing half-hour, which brought its price below LDCP by a large margin.

“Stocks closed bearish on investor concerns for economic uncertainty amid Covid outbreak,” said analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp. “Weak rupee, falling global crude oil prices, circular debt crises and uncertainty over release of $400 million World Bank loan for energy sector played catalytic role in bearish close.”

Analyst Nabeel Haroon at Topline Securities said a range bound activity was observed at the exchange as the index traded between an intraday high of 112 points and intraday low of minus216 points to finally close slightly down.

“Major contribution to the index came from JLICL, INIL, ARPL, AGP and ARPL, as they cumulatively contributed 273 points to the index, on the other hand COLG, SYS, ABOT, HINOON and TRG lost value to weigh down on the index by 952 points.”

The highest increase was recorded in shares of Philip Morris Pak, which rose by Rs44.98 to Rs964.98/ share, followed by Sapphire Fiber that increased by Rs30 to Rs949/share.

A major decline was noted in shares of Wyeth Pak Ltd, which fell by Rs39.62 to Rs1,957.38/share, followed by Gatron Ind. that decreased by Rs37.50 to Rs483.50/share.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include MEBL (+21 points), GHGL (+21 points), BAFL (+11 points), MCB (+7 points) and INIL (+75 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (-32 points), UNITY (-25 points), LUCK (-20 points), SYS (-13 points) and HUBC (-12 points).

Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Pervez Ahmed Co, Unity Foods Ltd, Dost Steels Ltd, WorldCall Telecom, Fauji Foods Ltd, Summit Bank, Hascol Petrol, TPL Properties, Byco Petroleum and Telecard Limited.

Pervez Ahmed Co remained the volume leader with 67.52 million shares with an increase of six paisas to Rs1.75/share. It was followed by Unity Foods Ltd with 35.95 million shares that closed lower by Rs2.34 to Rs38.08/share.

Shares’ turnover in the future contracts contracted to 87.25 million shares from 138.86 million shares traded in the previous session.