Equity market fail to close above support barrier of 46,600 points

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks witnessed a bearish session where the index failed to close above the support barrier of 46,600 points, as the MSCI downgraded Pakistan to the Frontier Markets after four years, which also led to pressure in the blue-chip stocks, dealers said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that the stocks fell across-the-board after the MSCI reclassified Pakistan to the Frontier Market (FM) from the Emerging Market (EM) index.

“[The] rupee instability, investor fears over probable foreign outflows; following the MSCI downgrade played a catalytic role in the bearish close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index shed 0.71 per cent, or 333.25 points, to close at 46,396.71 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 1 per cent, or 187.41 points, to close at 18,559.63 points.

As many as 524 scrips were active, of which 160 advanced, 344 declined and 20 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 477.8 million shares, compared with the turnover of 423.75 million shares in the last trading session.

Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 witnessed a volatile session on Wednesday. “Significant selling pressure was seen in the market due to reclassification of the MSCI Index to the Frontier Market (FM) from the Emerging Market (EM)”.

Cement sector continued slipping due to pressure from the rising coal prices where Kohat Cement went down 5.3 per cent; Lucky Cement declined 3.9 per cent; Thatta Cement (THCCL) went down 4.7 per cent, and Pioneer Cement (PIOC) down 3 per cent.

Moreover, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) went down 1.1 per cent and the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) declined 2.7 per cent from the E&P sector closing lower, where crude oil prices fell in the international market.

An analyst at Pearl Securities said the government was set to increase the electricity tariff in October, which it had put on hold in April to address the circular debt and retain the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-related flows.

“Meanwhile, the rising commodity prices, both locally and internationally, pose a serious threat to inflation, which is still the main source of concern in the market. Going forward, we expect the market to remain volatile, while we suggest investors to book profits at higher levels.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Nestle Pakistan, up Rs90.75 to close at Rs6,164.5/share; and Allawasaya Textile, up Rs81.39 to close at Rs1,166.71/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Rafhan Maize, down Rs280 to close at Rs11,000/share; and Sapphire Textile, down Rs40 to close at Rs1,050/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in TPL Corporation with a turnover of 39.04 million shares. The scrip gained 24 paisas to close at Rs25.52/share; followed by Telecard Limited with a turnover of 37.42 million shares. It gained Rs1.54 to close at Rs23.11/share. Ghani Global remained the third with a turnover of 35.37 million shares. It gained Rs3.37 to finish at Rs48.39.