Stocks down 103 points on political uncertainty

KARACHI: Stocks closed slightly lower by 103 points during the mixed trading on Tuesday as investors opted for profit-taking amid political uncertainty.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 share index decreased by 102.87 points or 0.13 per cent to 77,877.42 points against 77,980.29 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 78,275.97 points while the lowest level was recorded at 77,817.33 points.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said, “Stocks closed lower amid political noise.”He said that uncertainty over the IMF’s approval for the proposed closure of IPPs and cut in the PSDP, geo-political uncertainty, a weak rupee; and dismal data for auto sales played a catalyst role in the bearish close.

The KSE-30 index decreased by 41.33 points or 0.17 per cent to 24,961.05 points against 25,002.37 points.Traded shares increased by 89 million shares to 604.144 million shares from 415.170 million shares. The trading value decreased to Rs19.98 billion from Rs22.24 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs10.4 trillion against Rs10.39 trillion. Of 443 companies active in the session, 183 closed in green, 211 in red and 49 remained unchanged.

Ali Najib, an analyst at Topline Securities, said equities had a mixed day where bullish and bearish forces fought whole day to grab the rein of market momentum and eventually bears had the day on their name as the KSE100 index settled the day at 77,877 level (-103 points, down 0.13 per cent).

The day started on a positive note initially. However, investors chose to do some profit-taking which compelled the benchmark index to go into negative territory where the benchmark index made an intraday low at 77,817 (-163 points). Nonetheless, value hunters rescued the market at the day’s low which ultimately led the index to gain 60 points that were lost earlier in the day.

During the day, power, fertilizer and auto sector’s stocks contributed negatively as HUBC, FFC, MTL, THALL and EFERT lost 157 points. However, MARI, LUCK and JVDC experienced some buying interest, resulting in a combined positive contribution of 147 points.

The highest increase was recorded in Mari Petroleum Company Limited shares, which rose by Rs129 to Rs3,395.8 per share, followed by Hoechst Pakistan Limited, which increased by Rs91.27 to Rs1,599.99 per share.

A significant decline was noted in Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited, which fell by Rs322.99 to Rs17,620 per share; Khyber Textile Mills Limited followed it, which closed lower by Rs54.45 to Rs569.19 per share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Ltd stated that the PSX witnessed a flat session heading into the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday. In significant developments, Sazgar Engineering (SAZEW) has been added to the MSCI Frontier Markets (FM) Standard Pakistan Index, increasing Pakistan’s representation to 22 stocks.

Tech names performed strongly, with AIRLINK (+10 per cent) and OCTOPUS (+5.07 per cent) standing out as top performers. The outlook remains positive, with expectations for buyers to emerge from current levels, potentially driving the KSE-100 to 79k in the coming sessions.

Kohinoor Spinning remained the volume leader with 131.917 million shares which closed higher by 68 paisas to Rs8.32 per share. Yousuf Weaving followed it with 89.200 million shares, which closed higher by 29 paisas to Rs5.63 per share.

Other significant turnover stocks included Hascol Petrol, WorldCall Telecom, Air Link Commun, Amtex Limited, Pak Int. Bulk, Hub Power Co., K-Electric Ltd. and Synthetic Prod. In the futures market, 332 companies recorded trading, of which 107 increased, 222 decreased and 3 remained unchanged.