Pakistan bourse slides over uncertain global commodity market

KARACHI: The local equity witnessed a bloodbath session on Monday, where the market remained under massive selling pressure on looming uncertainty on the fiscal and external front after the crude oil prices reached near a historic high level.

“The rising uncertainty in the commodity market amid the Russia-Ukraine war led the index to a bearish close. The local political scenario is also not favourable as the opposition is all set to cast a no-confidence vote in the outgoing week,” an analyst at Pearl Securities said.

“Going forward, we expect the market to remain under pressure due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) monetary policy will also play its due role,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 2.88 per cent, or 1,284.38 points, to close at 43,266.97 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 3.47 per cent, or 604.12 points, to close at 16,824.73 points.

As many as 358 scrips were active of which 41 advanced, 301 declined and 16 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 236.88 million shares, compared with the turnover of 134.79 million shares in the last trading session.

“Bloodbath session was observed today due to the political unrest and overheated commodities cycle. The market opened in the red zone and stayed under pressure throughout the day,” an analyst at Arif Habib Limited said.

“Across the board selling was witnessed by the institutional investors. In the last trading hour, value buying was observed mainly in the Exploration and Production (E&P) sector,” he added.

Going forward, the analysts recommend the investors adopt the “Sell on Strength” strategy in upcoming sessions.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Rafhan Maize up Rs99 to close at Rs11,799/share, and Sapphire Tex up Rs46.98 to close at Rs949.96/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Sapphire Fiber down Rs66.75 to close at Rs823.25/share, and Premium Tex(XD) down Rs54 to close at Rs666/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Hum Network with a turnover of 20.07 million shares. The scrip shed 41 paisas to close at Rs6.79/share, followed by WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 11.54 million shares. It shed 8 paisas to close at Rs1.75/share. Flying Cement(R) remained the third with a turnover of 11.43 million shares. It shed 19 paisas to finish at Rs0.48/share.

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