Pakistan stocks remain range-bound amid profit-taking

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks witnessed range-bound session on Tuesday, as the early gains based on S&P ratings affirmation were wiped out by an across-the-board profit-taking, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks closed higher, amid affirmation of S&P ratings of B- long-term and B short-term with stable outlook.

“[The] mid-session pressure remained on the concerns over rising public debt. However, speculations on likely EU approval over GSP Plus exports status and surging global crude oil prices played a catalytic role in the positive close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index gained 0.11 per cent, or 54.04 points, to close at 47,419.74 points. The KSE-30 shares index gained 0.17 per cent, or 32.56 points, to close at 19,027.87 points.

As many as 524 scrips were active, of which 248 advanced, 244 declined and 32 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 378.83 million shares, compared with the turnover of 382.6 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Topline Securities said a range-bound session was observed at the exchange. “Major positive contributors in today’s session were Systems Limited, Mari Petroleum, Lucky Cement, Pak Electron and Pakistan Petroleum Limited, which cumulatively added 117 points to the benchmark.”

On the results front, Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) announced a disappointing second quarter of CY21 EPS of Rs5.09 after which the stock succumbed to selling pressure and closed the day by declining 7.3 per cent.

An analyst at JS Global Capital said the initial public offering (IPO) of Air Link Communication was oversubscribed by 1.6x. JS Global was the lead manager/consultant to the issue and book runner.

“The benchmark index rose to touch an intraday high of +230 points today. However, across-the-board profit-taking wiped out nearly all of the gains.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Unilever Foods, up Rs849 to close at Rs18,849/share; and Rafhan Maize, up Rs249 to close at Rs10,449.5/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Philip Morris Pakistan, down Rs72.39 to close at Rs912.51/share; and Blessed Textile, down Rs32 to end at Rs418/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Telecard Limited with a turnover of 41.61 million shares. The scrip gained 66 paisas to close at Rs19.46/share; followed by Ghani Global with a turnover of 32.74 million shares. It shed Rs2.93 to close at Rs42.98/share. Byco Petroleum remained the third with a turnover of 21.73 million shares. It shed 10 paisas to finish at Rs9.93.