Stocks lose ground in range-bound trading

KSE-100 index slips 247.80 points, settles at 64,816.47

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s stock market on Friday fell nearly 250 points in range-bound trading as investors resorted to profit-taking over economic concerns and uncertainty about the outcome of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At the commencement of trading, the KSE-100 index spiked and soon hit its intra-day high at 65,353.66 points. However, it could not maintain the momentum and took a dive in the very first hour when investors booked profits in stocks standing at high valuations.

The index fluctuated widely throughout the day with many ups and downs, touching its intra-day low at 64,759.60 towards the close of trading.

The major focus of the day was the ongoing review talks with the IMF and the announcement of monetary policy early next week. Many analysts expect the central bank to maintain the status quo, though others hoped for a rate cut to prop up economic activities.

“Profit-taking was witnessed at the PSX amid pressure on overbought stocks owing to investor concerns about economic uncertainty,” said Ahsan Mehanti, MD of Arif Habib Corp.

“External financing challenges, uncertainty about the outcome of Pakistan-IMF review talks and expectations of status quo in the monetary policy announcement on March 18 amid 32.89% year-on-year surge in SPI inflation played the role of catalysts in bearish close at the PSX.”

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 247.80 points, or 0.38%, and settled at 64,816.47.

Topline Securities, in its report, said that a range-bound session was observed as the index traded between its intra-day high of 289 points and intra-day low of -248 points. It closed at 64,816, down by 0.38%.

“This volatility in the market can be attributed to news that an IMF team has expressed displeasure over the Ministry of Finance’s remarks that it has met all structural benchmarks before the completion of the review by the fund staff and monetary policy on Monday,” it said. As a result, “investors preferred to remain on the sidelines.”

Arif Habib Limited (AHL) commented that the KSE-100 fell 1.5% week-on-week “with supply keeping the index suppressed below 66k”.

The current draw on liquidity remained at the all-time high of 67k with weekly support at 63k, it said.

“Friday saw selling pressure shave 0.6% off the index during the day with only 30 stocks rising and 63 falling.”

Meezan Bank (+1.25%), Lucky Cement (+1.31%) and NBP (+3.69%) were the biggest contributors to the index’s gains while OGDC (-2.45%), Hubco (-0.86%) and PPL (-1.19%) were the biggest drags, AHL added.

Overall trading volumes decreased to 259.4 million shares against Thursday’s tally of 315.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs10.1 billion.

Shares of 322 companies were traded. Of these, 113 stocks closed higher, 192 dropped and 17 remained unchanged.

Hascol Petroleum was the volume leader with trading in 56.96 million shares, gaining Rs0.18 to close at Rs8.56. It was followed by Cnergyico PK with 19.6 million shares, losing Rs0.15 to close at Rs4.94 and WorldCall Telecom with 16.5 million shares, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs1.34. Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth Rs81.4 million, according to the NCCPL.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2024.

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