Market watch: Selling pressure pulls stocks down

Benchmark KSE-100 index drops 68.4 points to settle at 45,841.25

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange endured a range-bound session on Monday, as sceptical investors once again adopted a wait-and-watch approach and kept trading activity thin amid an unsatisfactory economic outlook and uncertainties.

Volatility persisted at the bourse, as the benchmark KSE-100 index after surging past the 46,000-point mark during the day failed to keep up the bullish spell and closed in the red zone.

Even fresh appreciation of the rupee against the US dollar did not lift the confidence of investors, who opted to remain on the sidelines.

Earlier, the trading kicked off on a positive note as the benchmark index advanced gradually to the intra-day high of 46,140 points in first half of the session. A rally was mainly witnessed in oil stocks.

However, the bullish stance slowly began to weaken owing to the selling pressure from market participants in the absence of any positive triggers.

Moreover, late selling further pulled the index down, which eventually closed in the negative territory.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 68.40 points, or 0.15%, to settle at 45,841.25.

JS Global analyst Waqar Iqbal said that the stock market witnessed a strong start to the day with the purchase of oil stocks. The KSE-100 index, however, failed to sustain the 46,000-point level and closed at 45,841, losing 68 points day-on-day.

Major volume leaders were Pak Elektron, Cnergyico PK, Hum Network, Oil and Gas Development Company, WorldCall Telecom and Telecard Limited.

“Going forward, slight corrections can be seen and we advise investors to book profits at current levels,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes decreased to 150.1 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 192.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.3 billion.

Shares of 362 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 114 stocks closed higher, 227 declined and 21 remained unchanged.

Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 8.3 million shares, losing Rs1.8 to close at Rs22.26. It was followed by Cnergyico PK with 7.9 million shares, losing Rs0.12 to close at Rs6.12 and Hum Network with 6.5 million shares, losing Rs0.05 to close at Rs7.5.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs160.1 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.