Pakistan stocks remain bearish on Afghan uncertainty

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market started the week on a negative note where the bourse witnessed high selling pressure on the back of uncertainty, which gripped the Afghanistan region as the US quit its last Afghan air base.

Moreover, weak investors’ sentiment was also observed on account of the fourth wave of the Covid pandemic.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index shed 0.54 per cent, or 257.06 points, to close at 47,429.12 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 0.44 per cent, or 83.58 points, to close at 19,016.89 points.

As many as 411 scrips were active, of which 133 advanced, 270 declined and eight remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 494.53 million shares, compared with the turnover of 563.81 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the lack of obvious near-term trigger caused the lacklustre activity in the market; whereby, investors are concerned about the beginning of earnings season, due to the start at the end of August.

“Selling pressure was evident across-the-board, with the focus on cement, steel, technology, refinery and E&P sectors. The Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) became an exception to the selling, and saw active trading with the range-bound price uptick. The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) posted its results with a dividend payout that attracted investors to build position and realised price gain.”

Muhammad Mubashir at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 opened the session on a slightly positive note but soon fell victim to profit-taking, which dragged the index into the negative region where it remained for the remainder of the day.

“Despite the bearish market, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) gained 3.1 per cent on the news that the airline is set to issue a 10-year Sukuk, worth up to Rs20 billion this month. Despite [the] news of strong cement off-take, the sector remained under pressure where Lucky Cement declined 1.6 per cent; D G Khan Cement went down 2.4 per cent; and Pioneer Cement fell 1.3 per cent.”

Going forward, analysts recommend investors to avail of any downside as an opportunity to buy in the construction and export-oriented sectors.

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Rafhan Maize, up Rs453 to close at Rs10,250/share; and Sanofi Aventis, up Rs63.99 to close at Rs964.99/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Unilever Foods, down Rs200 to close at Rs15,800/share; and Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs70 to end at Rs1,380/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 55.63 million shares. The scrip shed eight paisas to close at Rs3.98/share; followed by Hascol Petroleum with a turnover of 39.83 million shares. It shed 98 paisas to close at Rs7.28/share. K-Electric was the third with a turnover of 29.4 million shares. It shed six paisas to finish at Rs4.01.

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