The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a roller-coaster session on Monday, as the benchmark KSE-100 index after registering handsome gains earlier in the day, succumbed to late-session profit-taking, starting the week on a negative note.
Investor sentiment was mainly dented by the depreciating rupee, which lost 0.54% of value day-on-day against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.
Moreover, speculation over the resumption of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme and concerns over circular debt crisis amid prevailing political uncertainty in the country also kept the trading environment dull.
The session kicked off with a sharp rally, mainly led by oil and gas exploration stocks, as the benchmark index touched an intra-day high of 46,970 points during the initial hour of trading.
However, the index gradually started treading south owing to across-the-board profit-taking and ultimately settled in the red zone.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 61.95 points, or 0.13%, to settle at 46,539.59 points.
Topline Securities, in its report, said that Pakistan equities commenced the week on a positive note, led by the oil and gas exploration sector, in the backdrop of a rally in global crude oil prices and market talk of one-time heavy dividend on Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) stocks.
The benchmark index kicked off the day in the green zone and touched intra-day high of 369 points, it said. However, at that level profit-taking took place, which pushed the market towards intra-day low of 183 points.
Exploration and production, fertiliser and power-sector stocks contributed positively. Among these, OGDC, PPL, Fauji Fertiliser Company, Hub Power Company and Pakistan Oilfields Limited added 261 points cumulatively to the index, Topline said.
“On the flip side, Systems Limited, Engro Polymer and Chemicals, Lucky Cement and United Bank Limited saw some profit-taking as they lost 98 points,” it said.
JS Global analyst Neelam Naz said that the market, after touching an intra-day high of 46,970 points, eventually lost ground due to profit-taking and closed at 46,539, losing 62 points compared to the previous session.
G3 Technologies (-4.1%), Cnergyico PK (-3.4%), WorldCall Telecom (-3.6%), Oil and Gas Development Company (+7.3%) and Ghani Global Holdings (-4.8%) were the volume leaders, she said.
Main index laggards were Engro Polymer and Chemicals, Engro Corporation, United Bank Limited, Habib Metropolitan Bank and Lucky Cement.
OGDC and PPL were in the limelight on expectation of a hefty dividend payout, she said.
“Going forward, we recommend investors to wait for major dips for fresh buying positions,” the analyst said.
Overall trading volumes dipped to 255.6 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 365.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.6 billion.
Shares of 336 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 107 stocks closed higher, 199 declined and 30 remained unchanged.
G3 Technologies was the volume leader with 21.2 million shares, losing Rs0.5 to close at Rs11.7. It was followed by Cnergyico PK with 17.8 million shares, losing Rs0.23 to close at Rs6.49 and WorldCall Telecom with 15.5 million shares, losing Rs0.07 to close at Rs1.85.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs41.6 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
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