Market watch: Political pressure takes toll on PSX

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 200.29 points to settle at 43,653.33

KARACHI:

The intensifying political heat in the country took a toll on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday as the benchmark KSE-100 index dipped 200 points during a tumultuous session.

While first half of the session saw the index trade in a narrow range, selling pressure was evident in the second half, which dragged the market into the negative zone.

The no-confidence motion submitted by the opposition parties against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the assembly, and subsequent developments played on the minds of investors, who rushed to safeguard their positions.

In addition, fluctuations in global commodity prices, particularly energy, further dampened market sentiment and restrained it from posting any significant gains.

In the morning, the first half of trading began on a volatile note when the market recorded multiple rises and falls in initial trading. Later, the market remained range bound, closing the first half on a flat note.

The second half kicked off with a dip owing to weak investor interest, resulting in the index closing the day in the red.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decline of 200.29 points, or 0.46%, to settle at 43,653.33 points.

A report of Arif Habib Limited stated that a range-bound session was observed due to political uncertainty and an overheated commodities’ cycle.

“The market opened in the green zone and stayed volatile throughout the day,” it said. “Main board activity remained gloomy.”

On the flip side, activity continued to remain sideways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in third-tier stocks, it said.

In the last trading hour, across-the-board selling was witnessed, the report said.

Topline Securities, in its report, stated that a range-bound activity was noted in the first trading session, as the index juggled between positive and negative zones.

“However, pressure was observed in the second half of trading session as investors preferred to reduce their exposure in the market before the weekend given ongoing local political uncertainty and volatility in commodity prices in the backdrop of Russia-Ukraine conflict,” it said.

JS Global analyst Mubashir Anis Naviwala stated that profit-taking continued across the board as the benchmark index closed at 43,653, down 200 points day-on-day.

“The market opened in the green zone and touched an intra-day high of 43,966 points but it was unable to break through the intra-day resistance of 44,000 points,” he said.

Traded volume stood at 149 million shares where TPL Properties (-5.3%), TPL Corporation (+0.3%), Unity Foods (-4.3%), WorldCall Telecom (0%) and Maple Leaf Cement (+0.8%) were the highest contributors.

“Going forward, we recommend investors to avail any downside as an opportunity to buy in the construction and export-oriented sectors,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 149.3 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 271.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.3 billion.

Shares of 332 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 110 stocks closed higher, 205 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

TPL Properties was the volume leader with 12.3 million shares, losing Rs1.26 to close at Rs22.46. It was followed by Pak Elektron (R) with 11.9 million shares, losing Rs0.7 to close at Rs1.82 and TPL Corporation with 9.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs10.06.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs219.1 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.