Pakistan equity market down 641 points on record rupee depreciation

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market remained under pressure throughout the day on Wednesday due to the political instability, concerns on inflation and the lack of clarity on the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that a bloodbath session was observed in the market today, despite opening in the positive zone the market failed to sustain as the continuation to fiscal and political uncertainty triggered the investor confidence resulting in the market to close on a negative note.

“The market witnessed profit selling across the board today due to further depreciation of rupee and tightening economic situation which pulled the KSE-100 index down to 1100 points giving the bears an upper hand,” he added.

“The last trading hour witnessed value buying in cement stocks helping the index to recover modest gain with positive momentum. The session remained dull, on the contrary hefty volumes were observed in 3rd tier stocks.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 1.47 per cent, or 641.21 points, to close at 42,863.15 points.

The KSE-30 shares Index shed 1.27 per cent, or 210.06 points, to close at 16,303.90 points.

As many as 359 scrips were active of which 47 advanced, 296 declined and 16 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 338.54 million shares, compared with the turnover of 233.85 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said that the benchmark KSE-100 Index witnessed a massive sell-off session today as the dollar reached a new all-time high.

“Further, the expected rise in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announcement kept the investors’ interest aside.

The uncertainty was further fueled amid an unclear position over the IMF programme,” he added.

“Going forward, MSCI review is scheduled for tomorrow where we expect the market to remain under pressure. Therefore, we recommend our investors adopt the “Sell on Strength” strategy in the upcoming sessions.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Gatron Industries up Rs26.70 to close at Rs382.80/share, and Ismail Industries up Rs16.82 to close at Rs494.82/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Colgate Palm down Rs97.86 to close at Rs2,100/share, and Nestle Pakistan down Rs50.01 to close at Rs5,750/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 31.40 million shares. The scrip shed 10 paisas to close at Rs1.49/share, followed by Cnergyico PK with a turnover of 24.78 million shares.

It shed 43 paisas to close at Rs5.26/share. Pak Elektron remained the third with a turnover of 16.77 million shares. It shed 76 paisas to finish at Rs15.73/share.