Market watch: Stocks dip as rollover week begins

Benchmark KSE-100 index sheds 120.39 points to settle at 47,672.68

KARACHI:

Stocks struggled to find a floor on the first day of futures rollover week on Monday as sell-off continued owing to weak cues coupled with internal and external headwinds.

Bears dominated market proceedings and the benchmark KSE-100 index endured another round of stock selling, dipping over 180 points in intra-day trading.

Stocks lost ground in the wake of stricter movement restrictions amid rising coronavirus cases, which dented investor sentiment.

Investors were also wary ahead of monetary policy announcement by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday (July 27).

Analysts predicted volatility during the ongoing week, citing it was a rollover week and marked the beginning of corporate earnings season.

Though the KSE-100 index stayed in the green for a brief period in early trading, it failed to advance further and succumbed to selling pressure soon after.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 120.39 points, or 0.25%, to settle at 47,672.68.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market traded range bound between +137 points and -186 points.

“First day of the rollover week saw a bit of hiccup early on when 60- and 90-day contracts faced some technical glitch,” it said.

The enhancement of position and exposure limits helped investors take new positions, whereas technology and textile sectors saw nominal profit-booking.

The report added that the Pakistani rupee, which had depreciated in the previous week, bounced back on Monday.

Cement, steel, exploration and production, oil and gas marketing and bank sectors contributed negatively to the index whereas fertiliser, technology and textile sectors had a positive bearing on the market.

Sectors contributing to the performance included exploration and production (-73 points), cement (-55 points), bank (-37 points), power (-19 points), fertiliser (+58 points) and technology (+25 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included Engro Corporation (+36 points), MCB Bank (+24 points), Engro Fertilisers (+24 points), Systems Limited (+13 points) and TRG Pakistan (+13 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Pakistan Petroleum (-36 points), UBL (-25 points), Meezan Bank (-25 points), Oil and Gas Development Company (-25 points) and Hubco (-17 points).

Overall trading volumes surged to 450.2 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 314.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.6 billion.

Shares of 394 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 187 stocks closed higher, 187 declined and 20 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 127.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.28 to close at Rs3.84. It was followed by Telecard Limited with 45.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.99 to close at Rs15.72 and TPL Corp with 17.4 million shares, losing Rs0.33 to close at Rs24.03.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs203.2 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.