Market watch: KSE-100 extends losses on profit-taking

Benchmark index falls 168.24 points to settle at 40,122.50

KARACHI:

Bears once again dominated the stock market on Monday as selling pressure due to Supreme Court’s ruling on gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

Moreover, the government’s agreement with independent power producers (IPPs) on renegotiation of power purchase agreements (PPAs) also fuelled profit-taking. IPPs have agreed on a reduction in the return on equity, late payment surcharge and sharing of efficiency gains.

After a brief upward open, the KSE-100 index dived below the 40,000-point mark on the back of increased selling pressure on fertiliser and power companies’ stocks. Although the market recovered from intra-day lows, it continued to trade in the red territory.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 168.24 points, or 0.42%, to settle at 40,122.50 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market took a battering due to the negative impact of tariff rationalisation for the IPPs, which transpired over the weekend, as well as selling pressure on fertiliser and cement sectors over GIDC repayment, as decided by the Supreme Court on the last trading day.

“Engro hit its lower circuit, however, it recovered later. Similarly, index heavyweight Hubco saw heavy selling pressure that brought the index down,” it said.

Among banks, HBL saw rates come down more than other stocks in the sector, which was primarily attributed to profit-booking by investors.

Exploration and production (E&P) and oil and gas marketing companies performed well, partly due to switching by investors from power and fertiliser sectors and partly because of expectation of resolution of the circular debt issue.

Resultantly, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) hit their upper circuits whereas PSO traded near its upper circuit.

Sectors contributing to the performance included oil and gas marketing companies (up 95 points), pharmaceutical (36 points), E&P (33 points), auto (22 points) and engineering (14 points).

On the other hand, fertiliser sector (down 170 points) and power sector (down 125 points) dragged the index down.

Overall, trading volumes declined to 522.7 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 556.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs22.5 billion.

Shares of 403 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 210 stocks closed higher, 173 declined and 20 remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 37.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.36 to close at Rs14.26. It was followed by Hascol Petroleum with 35.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.10 to close at Rs16.60 and TRG Pakistan with 26.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.92 to close at Rs53.71.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs187.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.