Pakistan stocks plummet; Index lost 272.63 points

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks plummeted and registered a third consecutive negative session, owing to the rollover week and alarming Covid scenario. Additionally, augmenting commodity prices, higher import bill, and current account deficit position created the selling pressure at the bourse, dealers said.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market traded range-bound between +124 points and -374 points. “[The] rollover week had its toll on the market, besides disappointment from the financial results and slippage of the rupee against the dollar. Selling pressure was evident in cement, steel, and power sectors.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index shed 0.57 per cent, or 272.63 points, to close at 47,363.27 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 0.71 per cent, or 136.23 points, to close at 18,953.90 points.

As many as 483 scrips were active, of which 118 advanced, 350 declined and 15 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 360.8 million shares, compared with the turnover of 384.62 million shares in the last trading session.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the bearish trend continued on the concerns over economic uncertainty, amid weak rupee, high inflation.

“Investors’ concern over Rs2.8 trillion circular debt crisis, [the] IMF conditions over further taxes and power tariff, rising current account deficit and [the] possible PSX downgrade to MSCI Frontier Market status played a catalytic role in the bearish activity in the futures rollover week.”

Neelam Naz at JS Global Capital said that due to the rollover pressure, the benchmark index took a battering. “Fundamentally, the market is trading at attractive valuations and a positive trigger is required to resume the upward trend. With a view that the corrective phase is almost over, we advise investors to build exposures across the board.”

The companies, which reflected the highest gains included Unilever Foods, up Rs440 to close at Rs18,000/share; and Pakistan Services, up Rs70 to close at Rs1,075/share.

The companies that reflected the most losses included Nestle Pakistan, down Rs50 to close at Rs5,650/share; and Rafhan Maize, down Rs50 to end at Rs9,950/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Hascol Petroleum with a turnover of 28.76 million shares. The scrip gained 49 paisas to close at Rs7.92/share; followed by Ghani Global with a turnover of 25.10 million shares. It shed Rs3.38 to close at Rs42.34/share. Kohinoor Spinning remained the third with a turnover of 21.68 million shares. It gained 32 paisas to finish at Rs5.72.