Economic uncertainties put stocks in a straitjacket

Stocks snailed through Friday for the second session in a row amid thin turnover, mainly weighed down by fears that runaway commodities prices would make bigger inflationary waves in the near term, traders said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Shares Index ticked up 25.63 points or 0.06 percent to 44,551.35 points after toing and froing between a high of 44,723.19 and 44,457.55 points.

JS Research in its daily market wrap said, trade remained dull today due to lack of positive triggers and worsening political situation.

“We expect rangebound activity to continue and recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in the technology, cement, and textile sectors,” the brokerage said.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said, stocks showed recovery led by selected scrips on strong exports numbers for July-February FY2022 and Prime Minister’s relief package.

Global stocks recovery and surging global crude oil prices helped stocks end in the green, Mehanti said.

KSE-30 Shares Index increased 18.99 points or 0.11 percent to 17,428.85 points compared with 17,409.86 points recorded in the last session.

Trade volume shrank 54 million shares to 134.79 million from 188.66 million, while value also plunged to Rs4.736 billion from Rs7.361 billion.

Market capital slightly improved to Rs7.659 trillion from Rs7.654 trillion. Out of 335 actives in the session, 122 advanced, 177 retreated, while 36 ended as they had opened.

Topline Securities Ltd in a post-market note said equities saw a rangebound session, as the index traded between an intraday high of 198 points and a low of -65 points.

Major contribution to the index came from SYS, HBL, ENGRO, EFERT, and FATIMA, as they cumulatively contributed 104 points to the index, the brokerage said adding, on the flip side HUBC, POL, INDU, MCB, and PSO dragged the index down by 82 points.

The highest increase was recorded in share price of Philip Morris Pakistan, which rose by Rs36.40 to Rs719.90/share, followed by Rafhan Maize that strengthened by Rs200 to close at Rs11,700/share.

Allawasaya Textile was the worst loser of the day, down Rs109.21 to settle down at Rs1,347.26 per share, followed by Bata (Pakistan), up by Rs108.34 to finish at Rs2,132.16/share.

An analyst report of Arif Habib Ltd, a brokerage house, said the market opened on a positive note and traded in range throughout the day, expecting a monetary policy status quo.

He said the mainboard activity remained dull and in the last trading hour, value buying was observed.

Sectors contributing to the performance included fertiliser (+62.3 points), cement (+22.4 points), technology (+19.6 points), banks (10.2 points), and chemicals (+7.9 points).

Flying Cement (R) led the volumes chart with 11.41 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan Ltd with 8.00 million.

Stocks that recorded significant turnover included Yousuf Weaving, WorldCall Telecom, Ghani Global Holding, TPL Properties, Telecard Limited, Adamjee Life Assurance, Oil and Gas Development Company, and Engro Polymer.

Turnover in the future contracts decreased to 38.57 million shares from 57.37 million.