Stocks flatten on the eve of budget month

Stocks on Tuesday ended hardly changed in tight trade as late profit-taking overruled early gains a day before budget month, traders said.

KSE-100 Shares Index, the main gauge of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), ticked up by 38 points or 0.09 percent to 43,078.14 points against 43,040.14 points recorded in the last session.

The index hit an intraday high of 43,341.79 points and a low of 43,016.86 points.

Nabeel Haroon at Topline Securities said the index opened on a positive note; however, late profit-taking weighed.

“MSCI rebalance came into effect. The Semi-Annual Index Review changes, announced earlier during the month, were implemented on Tuesday,” Haroon said.

“To recall, OGDC was made part of MSCI Frontier Standard Index and HBL was moved from MSCI Frontier Standard Index to MSCI Frontier Small Cap Index, EPCL and INDU were new inclusion in MSCI Frontier Small Cap Index in MSCI SAIR,” he added.

HUBC, MTL, SYS, POL and OGDC, cumulatively contributed 164 points to the index. On the flip side LUCK, MCB, HMB, SEARL, and EFERT lost value to drag the index down by 93 points.

SILK was the volume leader with 72 million shares, as the bank announced that they have received a Public Announcement of Intention of acquisition from M/s Park View Enclave (Pvt) Ltd.

KSE-30 Shares Index also closed higher by 70.29 points or 0.43 percent to 16,453.48 points.

Trade volume increased 98 million shares to 285.348 million from 187.471 million shares.

Trading value jumped to Rs7.388 billion from Rs6.116 billion. Market capital, however, shrank Rs7.136 trillion from Rs7.143 trillion. Out of 344 traded companies, 147 moved higher, 173 lower, while 24 closed unchanged.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said, stocks closed higher led by selected scripts on pre-budget speculations, while oil stocks outperformed on surging global crude oil prices.

Rupee recovery and reports of an upbeat budget deficit target of 4.8 percent for FY2023 held the stocks on the green side, Mehanti said.

Sanofi-Aventis emerged as the best performer as it gained Rs36.99 to Rs836.99/share, followed by Ismail Industries, up Rs35.04 to Rs508.85/share.

Rafhan Maize emerged as the most buffeted stock of the day as it lost Rs100 to close at Rs9,700/share, followed by Mehmood Textile, which shed Rs65.62 to settle down at Rs809.38/share.

Mohammad Waqar Iqbal, an analyst at JS Research, said the bourse witnessed range-bound activity.

“Going forward, the equity market may remain lacklustre until the announcement of the federal budget scheduled for June 10, 2022,” he said.

Iqbal said investors would mostly tread with caution as any new tax impositions might depress the market.

“We advise investors to hold back until clarity emerges on the same,” he advised.

Silk Bank Ltd ruled the volume chart with 71.621 million shares. The bank gained 22 paisas to close at Rs1.50/share. It was followed by Pakistan International Bulk with 35.617 million shares. The shipping terminal’s stock rose by 43 paisas to Rs6.58 per share.

Pakistan Refinery, Pak Elektron, WorldCall Telecom, Unity Foods Ltd, Flying Cement, Ghani Global Holdings, TPL Properties, and Oil & Gas Development Company also contributed to the turnover.