Profit-taking bites into optimism rally at PSX

Stocks on Tuesday snapped stellar streak owing to profit-booking as investors punished big names for declaring disappointing results amid renewed regional security concerns, traders said.

The KSE-100 Shares Index, the benchmark of the country’s capital market, lost 283.50 points or 0.59 percent to close at 47,828.71, exploring a high of 48,126.20 points and a low of 47,739.53 points during the session.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed bearish amid institutional profit-taking in overbought scrips.

Foreign outflows, a slump in rupee, regional uncertainty, and concerns for likely PSX downgrade to MSCI frontier status next took toll on the trade, Mehanti added.

Following the benchmark’s suit, KSE-30 Shares Index fell 171.43 points or 0.89 percent to 19,166.02 points.

Traded shares thinned out by 3 million shares to 394.95 million shares against 397.69 million shares. Trading value dropped to Rs13.67 billion from Rs14.85 billion. Market capital dropped to Rs8.35 trillion from Rs8.40 trillion. Among 483 actives in the session, there were 171 gainers, 297 losers, and 15 neutrals.

Analyst Haris S Khan at Topline Securities, said, profit-taking led the index to close in the red.

Geopolitical concerns resurfaced as the Taliban warned there would be consequences if the United States and its allies tried to remain in Afghanistan beyond next week as per news reports, Khan said.

Moreover, he said dollar also continued its upward trajectory and traded above Rs165, a level last seen in September 2020.

Soon after announcing their financial results, ENGRO and PSO were pummeled by disappointed investors and knocked out 91.44 points cumulatively.

Furthermore, profit-booking also led MEBL, LUCK, and PPL to dent the index by 90.14 points.

Pakistan Services led the gains by rising Rs75 to Rs1,075 per share, followed by Philip Morris Pak that strengthened Rs44.99 to Rs974.99 per share.

Sapphire Fiber emerged as the loss leader by falling Rs34.99 to Rs865.01 per share, trailed by Pakistan Tobacco XD that slid by Rs27.51 to settle at Rs1,186 per share.

Arif Habib Limited, a brokerage house, said after posting an increase in the past three consecutive sessions, the index saw profit-booking today across the board, with PSO being the prominent one due to lower than anticipated payout despite high earnings. Similarly, selling in cement, steel, and energy sectors also kept the index under pressure, the brokerage reported.

The technology sector showed mixed reaction with AVN, NETSOL and SYS floating above last day’s closing prices.

Stocks that remained in the trading limelight were WorldCall Telecom, Telecard Limited, Ghani Glo Hol, B O Punjab, Azgard Nine, Hum Network, Dewan Cement, Thatta Cement, Byco Petroleum, and Unity Foods Ltd.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 43.69 million shares. The stock dropped three paisas to close at Rs3.31 per share. It was followed by Telecard Limited that saw a trade of 30.99 million shares. The telecom gained 55 paisas to reach Rs17.88 per share.

Turnover in the future contracts increased to 307.44 million shares from 303.04 million in the previous session.