The stock market experienced a lacklustre trading session on Tuesday with the KSE-100 swinging between positive and negative territories, and ending the session nearly flat.
Looming political tensions, on the back of Pakistan Democratic Movement’s meeting for devising a strategy for the Lahore rally scheduled for December 13, kept market participants on the sidelines.
Absence of positive triggers undermined investors’ interest further and they resorted to cautious trading. A decline in international crude oil prices impacted movement of oil sector stocks in Pakistan’s market and major shares closed the day with losses.
Earlier, trading kicked off with a spike, however, sombre mood erased the gains and pushed the KSE-100 index into negative territory within the first hour. Rest of the trading session saw dull trading as the benchmark index oscillated between red and green zones. Nevertheless, the index managed to stay above the 42,100-point mark.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 13.53 points, or 0.03%, to settle at 42,101.78 points.
Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market remained range bound oscillating between +119 points and -167 points and closing the session down by 13.5 points.
Cement sector stocks bounced on news of further investment in the sector in Punjab. However, by the close of session, they faced selling pressure that brought prices down.
The banking sector performed relatively better with growing interest in NBP, MCB and UBL, whereas trading volumes also improved over the previous session despite consistent selling from foreign investors.
International crude prices stayed muted, which became the reason for consolidation in the exploration and production sector stocks.
Tech stocks continued their trailblazing performance, with NetSol trading near its upper circuit and strong interest in TRG Pakistan despite the price coming down, the report said.
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the benchmark KSE-100 index traded between +119 and -167 points and closed at 42,102, down 14 points.
Overall, the market traded sideways with selling pressure coming from the oil sector where Oil and Gas Development Company (-0.7%), Pakistan Petroleum (-1.4%), PSO (-1.4%), Shell (-2.2%), Pakistan Oilfields (-0.9%) and Attock Refinery (-4.6%) were the laggards.
Volumes stood at 410 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement (+4.3%), Fauji Foods (+4.2%), TRG Pakistan (-1.6%), Hascol Petroleum (+1.4%) and Unity Foods (-1.7%) led the volumes with a cumulative 120 million shares changing hands.
As per news reports, the opposition’s announcement of some major decisions including seeking the prime minister’s resignation may shake market sentiment. Moreover, an uptick in Covid-19 cases was worrisome for the capital market as well.
“Moving forward, we recommend investors to book short-term gains amid the consolidation phase,” the analyst said.
Overall, trading volumes rose to 409.7 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 380.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs18.5 billion.
Shares of 383 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 160 stocks closed higher, 201 declined and 22 remained unchanged.
Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 31.7 million shares, gaining Rs1.71 to close at Rs41.88. It was followed by Fauji Foods with 23.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.64 to close at Rs15.8 and TRG Pakistan with 22.5 million shares, losing Rs1.2 to close at Rs72.87.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs133.3 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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