PSX daily update 30th March 2020

Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under severe selling pressure during the first two days of the outgoing week due to panic selling on investor concerns over deadly coronavirus spread.

However, the situation improved in the last two trading sessions. The market partially recovered its losses on the back of fresh buying in various sectors on Thursday and Friday.

Sources say that BRIndex100 lost 275.85 points on week-on-week basis to close at 2,849.59 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 142.013 million shares.

BRIndex30 declined by 1511.36 points to close at 13,927.75 points with average daily turnover of 112.810 million shares.

KSE-100 index plunged by 2,557.84 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 28,109.57 points. Trading activities also remained thin as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 37.3 percent to 150.02 million shares as compared to previous week’s average of 239.16 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 48.7 percent to Rs 4.44 billion.

The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares and withdrew $13.658 million from the Pakistan Capital Market. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 433 billion or 7.3 percent to Rs 5.474 trillion.

“The KSE-100 continued its slide down during the outgoing week, closing 8.34 percent down at 28,110 points, as COVID’19 cases continue to soar,” an analyst at AKD Securities said.

Despite further monetary easing – SBP announced a policy rate cut of 150bps to 11 percent, taking the cumulative rate cut to 225bps calendar year to date (CYTD) – and announcement of Rs1.2 trillion stimulus package at the end of the first trading session, the market sentiment remained bearish. Meanwhile, the KSE-100 also remained insulated to the announcement of massive economic stimulus by the US mid-week, as opposed to visible cheering by the international stock markets.

Laggards amongst AKD Securities coverage universe were HASCOL (down 21.0 percent), PSMC (down 17.85 percent), PSO (down 15.7 percent), ASTL (down 15.48 percent) and DGKC (down 15.19 percent), during this week.

An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the latest week cost Pakistan equities another 2,558 points as the KSE-100 index closed at 28,109 level, down 8.3 percent on week-on-week basis.

During the week, the Monitory Policy Committee (MPC) held an emergency meeting that culminated in a 150bps cut in the policy rate, mere days after a 75bps cut. Cumulatively, the two announcements have brought the policy rate down to 11.00 percent.

Meanwhile, the government announced a substantial support package worth over Rs 01 trillion to keep the economy afloat. Among numerous other things, the package included a significant cut in POL prices (Rs15 per liter) to be applicable for the next three months and an immediate Rs 100 billion tax refund to exporters with a deferred payment facility on loans. This may have played a role in the textile sector outperforming the KSE-100 index during the week.