Pakistan equity market remains bearish amid rising Covid cases

KARACHI: A range-bound trading was witnessed at the local bourse on Friday, as stocks closed lower, amid rising Covid cases, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed bearish on investors’ concerns for economic uncertainty, amid Covid outbreak.

“Weak rupee, falling global crude oil prices, circular debt crisis and uncertainty over [the] release of $400 million World Bank loan for [the] energy sector played a catalytic role in the bearish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index shed 0.32 per cent, or 140.93 points, to close at 47,489.95 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 0.41 per cent, or 77.59 points, to close at 18,965.35 points.

As many as 473 scrips were active, of which 151 advanced, 300 declined and 22 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 499.73 million shares, compared with the turnover of 546.80 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market largely traded in a narrow range. “O&GMCs, cement, chemical, refinery and technology sectors continued seeing selling pressure from the previous couple of sessions. Lucky Cement saw a significant drop in the closing half hour, which brought its price below the last closing by a large margin.”

Neem Naz at JS Global Capital said that the negative sentiments built around the rising Covid positivity ratio dragged the KSE-100 index down from an intraday high of 47,753 points to a closing at 47,490 points level.

“Steel rebar prices have increased Rs5,000/tonnes effective today, which kept the steel sector in the limelight. Looking ahead towards the next week, the Pakistan equities can be expected to further continue their downward journey, amid lack of buyers’ interest. Investors are advised to exercise caution and adopt a buy on dips strategy in steel, technology and cement sectors.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Philip Morris Pakistan, up Rs44.98 to close at Rs964.98/share; and Sapphire Fiber, up Rs30 to close at Rs949/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Wyeth Pakistan, down Rs39.62 to close at Rs1957.38/share; and Gatron Industries, down Rs37.50 to end at Rs483.5/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Pervez Ahmed Company with the turnover of 67.52 million shares. The scrip gained 6 paisas to close at Rs1.75/share; followed by Unity Foods with the turnover of 35.95 million shares. It shed Rs2.34 to close at Rs38.08/share. Dost Steels was the third with the turnover of 26.09 million shares. It gained 15 paisas to finish at Rs5.5.

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