Market watch: Stocks close in red amid lack of positive triggers
Shares of 561 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 368 stocks closed higher. PHOTO: FILE
The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a roller coaster ride on Friday where the benchmark KSE-100 index plunged to 44,600 points in intra-day trading, but late session buying helped erase most of the losses.
A lack of positive triggers amid surging inflation, which came in at 9% for September 2021, dented investors’ interest. Selling pressure subsided by midday as cherry-picking emerged, which helped all heavyweight sectors to close with modest gains.
Following a short-lived spike at the beginning of first half of the session, the KSE-100 index registered a steep fall due to panic selling. Towards the end of first half, the investors opted to accumulate stocks, which had fallen to attractive valuations. As a result, the market wiped off some of the losses.
A range-bound activity was witnessed in the second session, which lifted the KSE-100 index, but still the market closed with a slight loss.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 27.90 points, or 0.06%, to settle at 44,871.70 points.
In its report, Arif Habib Limited stated that the market traded in a narrow range with an oscillation of 404 points between +104 and -300 points. It closed the session down by 28 points.
Steel, refinery, power and oil and gas marketing sectors largely remained positive whereas selling pressure was witnessed in cement, bank, exploration and production, and technology sectors.
Pakistani rupee slipped further in open market, crossing 173 against the US dollar. It was a cause of concern for foreign investors, who had been sustaining losses on old positions in exploration and production as well as banking sectors.
Sectors contributing to the performance included cement (-51 points), exploration and production (-29 points), power (-17 points), chemical (+27 points), engineering (+22 points) and pharmaceutical (+18 points).
Stocks that contributed positively to the index were Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+17 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan (+16 points), Habib Bank Limited (+13 points), Avanceon (+11 points) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals (+10 points).
Stocks that contributed negatively included Lucky Cement (-28 points), K-Electric (-25 points), MCB Bank (-18 points), TRG Pakistan (-17 points) and Ghani Glass (-17 points).
JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that the bourse witnessed range-bound activity as the KSE-100 index moved between 45,003 and 44,600 points. It eventually closed at 44,872, down 28 points.
On the news front, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the role of Pakistan in the success of Doha peace process, he added.
“Moving forward, we expect range-bound activity to continue in coming sessions and recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy stocks in bank and textile sectors,” the analyst said.
Overall trading volumes fell to 267.1 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 372.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9 billion.
Shares of 561 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 368 stocks closed higher, 178 declined and 15 remained unchanged.
TPL Corp was the volume leader with 15.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs20.42. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 14.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.02 to close at Rs8.20 and Hascol Petroleum with 14.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.55 to close at Rs7.03.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs649.95 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan