Stocks remain in rout as profit-selling persists

Stocks further weakened on Wednesday as unabated profit-taking coupled with selling pressure that is typical in the rollover week took a toll on trade, traders said.

Country’s benchmark capital market gauge, the KSE-100 Shares Index shed 192.81 points or 0.40 percent to settle down at 47,635.90 points with the day’s highest and lowest being 47,916.95 points and 47,617.93 points, respectively.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed lower amid pressure in the futures rollover week and concerns over slump in rupee and its likely impact on inflation.

Foreign outflows, regional uncertainty, and concerns for likely PSX downgrade to MSCI frontier status emerged as the main downers, Mehanti said.

KSE-30 Shares Index that by and large takes cues from the benchmark also fell by 75.89 points or 0.40 percent to close at 19,090.13 points.

Ready market volume dropped 10 million shares to 384.62 million. Trading value decreased to Rs11.51 billion from Rs13.67 billion. Market capital reduced to Rs8.34 trillion from Rs8.35 trillion. Out of 479 actives in the session, 177 moved up, 282 down, while 20 ended unchanged.

Topline Securities in its daily market review said equities continued to witness profit-taking for a second consecutive day.

The upcoming expiry of the August futures contracts with an open interest of Rs17.23 billion added to the selling pressure, the brokerage said.

On the results front, ISL posted its FY21 EPS of Rs17.16 along with a cash dividend of Rs7/share after which the stock closed at Rs100.17/share, up 2.13 percent. BAFL also announced its 1H2021 EPS of Rs3.94 with a cash dividend of Rs2/share.

Wyeth Pakistan Ltd ended the day as the highest gainer, securing Rs82.24 to reach Rs1,781.29/share, followed by Allawasaya Textile, up Rs39.49 to end at Rs566.11/share.

Being the worst loser, Pakistan Services fell by Rs70 to end at Rs1,005/share, followed by Sapphire Fiber, down Rs59.01 to settle down at Rs806/share.

Brokerage Arif Habib Limited in a note said the market saw continued selling pressure partly due to ongoing rollover activity and partly because of profit-booking in cement, fertiliser, technology, and oil and gas chain.

The PSO remained under selling pressure for the second day in a row as its financial results, announced Tuesday, had dismayed investors into selling the stock, the brokerage reported.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included MCB (11 points), ISL (7 points), FFC (7 points), MTL (5 points) and BAFL (5 points), while negative contributors included PSEL (35 points), LUCK (21 points), TRG (15 points), DGKC (15 points), and MLCF (13 points).

WorldCall Telecom, Azgard Nine, Ghani Globla Holding, First National Equities, Kohinoor Spinning, Yousuf Weaving, Byco Petroleum, Hum Network, Telecard Limited, and Inter Steel Ltd remained under the limelight in terms of trade.

WorldCall Telecom led volumes chart with 38.04 million shares. It gained one paisa to reach Rs3.32/share. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 33.38 million shares. The scrip secured 45 paisas to end at Rs28.17/share.

Turnover in the future contracts increased to 308.19 million shares from 307.44 million in the previous session.