Market watch: KSE-100 flat as investors wary of monetary policy

Benchmark index edges up 14.31 points to settle at 47,686.99

KARACHI:

A volatile trading session was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Tuesday and the KSE-100 index rose marginally as profit-booking erased most of the gains.

The benchmark index inched up 14 points with bulls and bears locking horns to gain control of the market.

Investors remained cautious ahead of the monetary policy announcement after the close of trading. At a press conference later, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Reza Baqir announced that the benchmark interest rate had been left unchanged at 7%.

Index heavyweight automobile, cement and oil and gas marketing companies experienced modest selling amid uncertainty. On the other hand, fertiliser, exploration and production and banking sectors outshined the overall market and closed with handsome gains.

Earlier, trading began on a bullish note, pushing the KSE-100 index closer to the 48,000-point mark in early hours. However, the market recorded only slight movement from that point onwards.

In the final hour, selling pressure built up and profit-booking by investors eroded almost all the gains.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 14.31 points, or 0.03%, to settle at 47,686.99.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the market traded in a narrow range, oscillating between -56 points and +237 points. It closed the session up by 14 points.

The central bank was due to announce the monetary policy in the evening, where street consensus was about no change. Resultantly, banking sector stocks moved up, particularly of MCB, HBL and UBL.

The technology sector, on the other hand, saw profit-booking after registering an uptick in the past couple of sessions. A similar activity was witnessed in the textile sector.

Cement, oil and gas marketing and exploration and production sectors faced selling, which brought prices below previous day’s closing levels, the report added.

JS Global analyst Muhammad Mubashir said that bulls managed to pull the KSE-100 to the intra-day high of +237 points before profit-taking kicked in and erased nearly all of the gains by the day’s end.

The equity market closed the session flat at 47,687. The textile sector remained particularly buoyant following strong export numbers and a positive outlook.

Kohinoor Textile Mills (+7.5%) closed at its upper circuit while Gul Ahmed Textile Mills (+3.8%) and Nishat Mills (+1.1%) also remained in the green. Total traded volume was also flat at 433 million shares.

“We expect range-bound activity to continue in the coming sessions due to the rollover week and recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in cement and textile sectors,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes fell to 432.6 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 450.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.9 billion.

Shares of 432 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 165 stocks closed higher, 259 declined and eight remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 36.6 million shares, losing Rs0.1 to close at Rs3.74. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 34.6 million shares, losing Rs0.21 to close at Rs10.06 and KASB Modaraba with 17.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.41 to close at Rs3.34.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs267.9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.