Profit-taking flattens stocks amid dim global trends

Stocks on Monday made a promising opening with gains coming in steadily in the early session, but institutional profit-taking flattened the market out, amid somber global trends, dealers said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index lost 0.11 percent or

48.92 points to close at 45,605.42 points. Volumes decreased to 588.039 million shares,

from 696.434 million shares in the previous session last week. KSE-30 also dipped 0.14 percent or 27.72 points to end at 19,096.05 points level.

Topline Securities in a note said the index continued its bullish momentum from last week and printed an intraday high of 46,109 (up 1 percent), but was unable to sustain above the 46,000 points mark and eventually succumbed to profit-taking.

Investor interest was again seen in the IPP (Independent Power Producers) space as the government and the power companies reportedly agreed to sign Master Agreements, the brokerage added.

Salman Ahmad, head of institutional sales at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said the market at one stage was above 46,000 points (nearly 2.8 years high), but selling squeezed the runup. Profit selling was expected the index had scored more than 1,200 points as last week; however

the resulted trimming was good for the market as a correction was needed to build a new rally, Ahmed said.

“Key numbers are still favorable, while remittance touched $2 billion mark for the sixth consecutive week, which hints the urrent account deficit is expected to post surplus yet again, which bodes well for the currency,” he added.

Mehroz Khan, research analyst at Pearl Securities, said the KSE-100 index started the day on a ‘positive’ note where the index and gained 455 points in the initial trading hours. The power, pharmaceutical and E&P (exploration and production) were the major index movers; however, profit-taking emerged in technology, E&P, textiles, and commercial banks later, he said.

The SBP governor statement that Pakistan was set to enter the IMF programme soon also boosted sentiment, Khan added. “Going forward, we expect the market to move both ways and recommend investors to adopt the ‘Sell on Strength’ stance in the coming days,” Khan added.

Of 415 active scrips, of which 173 improved, 227 fell, and 15 remained unchanged. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Corporation said institutional profit-taking was witnessed at PSX amid pressure in global equities and slump in crude oil prices.

Mid-session support remained in banking and energy scrips on surging banking deposits and speculations ahead of financial results, he added. Investor concerns over surging government bond yields, higher power tariff, gas shortfall for industrials and ongoing political uncertainty contributed to the bearish close, Mehanti added.

Colgate Palmolive , up Rs145 to close at Rs3,200/share, and Service Industries Limited, strengthening by Rs35.38 to finish at Rs875.89/share, were the major gainers. Sapphire Textile, down Rs47.61 to close at Rs912.01/share, and Nestle Pakistan, losing Rs37.09 to close at Rs6,770/share, were the main losers.

Silk Bank Limited led volumes with 69.918 million shares. The scrip gained Rs0.13 to end at Rs1.22/share. WorldCall Telecom posted the lowest turnover with 11.291 million shares, and losing Rs0.05 to end at Rs1.19/share.