Pakistan bourse closes lower on rupee depreciation

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market remained volatile on Thursday due to further rupee depreciation and investors’ concerns over a hike in the Market Treasury Bill yields.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that despite opening in the green zone, the KSE-100 Index failed to sustain the positive momentum as profit taking was observed during the session.

In the last trading hour, a rally was witnessed in the refinery sector as PRL announced tremendous financial results beating analysts’ expectations, he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 0.63 per cent, or 290.54 points, to close at 45,652.62 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 0.68 per cent, or 120.22 points, to close at 17,569.94 points.

The ready market volumes stood at 234.99 million shares compared with the turnover of 186.43 million shares in the last trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the bearish trend continued amid a surge in the T-bills yields which is nearing 13.85 per cent coupled with the rupee depreciation.

“Surge in the power tariff and reports of International Monetary Fund (IMF) tough conditions of reversing fuel subsidies, tax amnesty, higher tariff and taxes for resumption of bailout package played a catalyst role in the bearish close,” he added.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Colgate Palm up Rs35 to close at Rs2,335/share, and Indus Motor Co up Rs8.21 to close at Rs1,348.96/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Nestle Pakistan down Rs99 to close at Rs5,501/share, and Mari Petroleum Pak down Rs29.47 to close at Rs1,701.36/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Lotte Chemical with a turnover of 19.98 million shares. The scrip gained 86 paisas to close at Rs19.78/share, followed by Cnergyico PK with a turnover of 19.85 million shares.

It gained 19 paisas to close at Rs6.50/share. Pak Refinery remained the third with a turnover of 12.90 million shares. It gained Rs1.13 to finish at Rs16.03/share.