Market watch: Stocks snap four-day winning streak

Benchmark KSE-100 index drops 204.54 points to settle at 45,521.63

KARACHI:

The four-day winning streak at the stock market came to an end on Friday as the KSE-100 index shed over 200 points, ending the last session of a short futures rollover week in the red.

The KSE-100 index opened on a moderately positive note, however, bears staged a comeback soon after and the bourse traded range bound before the midday recess. Both bears and bulls continued to wrestle for control of the market throughout the second session as well.

Investors were inclined to book profit after clarity on amendments to the Income Tax Ordinance. President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday signed an ordinance for the withdrawal of corporate tax exemptions, which would impact the country’s investment climate.

Moreover, concerns over loan conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increase in power tariff and rising number of coronavirus cases kept investors jittery throughout the session.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 204.54 points, or 0.45%, to settle at 45,521.63 points.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market shed 289 points on the last day of rollover week.

Confirmation of amendments to the Income Tax Ordinance for the withdrawal of Rs140 billion worth of tax exemptions had a bearing on steel, cement, fertiliser, oil and gas marketing companies whereas banking sector stocks went down due to the overall selling pressure.

Key stocks in the rollover, NetSol and TRG Pakistan, ended on a negative note with the exception of Attock Refinery, which traded positively throughout the session.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (-93 points), cement (-72 points, exploration and production (-46 points), oil and gas marketing (-15 points) and refinery (+26 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included Azgard Nine (+21 points), Attock Refinery (+19 points), Meezan Bank (+18 points), Habib Metropolitan Bank (+15 points) and Indus Motor (+12 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were HBL (-54 points), Bank AL Habib (-25 points), Pakistan State Oil (-24 points), UBL (-22 points) and Lucky Cement (-22 points).

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that the KSE-100 closed on a bearish note, shedding 205 points. It ended the session at 45,521 after touching a high and low of +31 and -289 points.

Volumes stood at 529 million shares. Byco Petroleum (+4.9%), Pakistan Refinery (+7.2%), Unity Foods (+0.4%) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company (+0.3%) led the volumes with trading in a cumulative 213 million shares.

“Such bearish sentiment can be attributed to the last day of the futures rollover week,” he stated.

Cement and banking sectors came under pressure, where Cherat Cement (-1.7%), Maple Leaf Cement (-1.7%), DG Khan Cement (-2%), Fauji Cement (-1.7%), HBL (-2.5%), UBL (-1.6%), Bank Alfalah (-1.4%) and Bank AL Habib (-2.2%) were the major losers.

Furthermore, refineries went in opposite direction, where Attock Refinery (+7.5%), Pakistan Refinery (+7.2%), National Refinery (+3.4%) and Byco Petroleum (+4.9%) gained significant ground.

“Moving forward, we recommend investors to avail any downside as a buying opportunity for cement, steel and refinery stocks,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes soared to 529.2 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 470.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs25.2 billion.

Shares of 391 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 131 stocks closed higher, 238 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 83.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.54 to close at Rs11.54. It was followed by Pakistan Refinery with 56.4 million shares, gaining Rs1.92 to close at Rs28.53 and Pakistan Telecommunication Company with 39.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs10.13.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs304.9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.