Pakistan equity market shed 205 points amid profit-taking

KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks witnessed a dull session on the first day of the week in the absence of any positive trigger; where technology, E&P, and power sectors cumulatively eroded 177 points from the index, dealers said on Monday.

“Crawling sentiment was noted, amid concerns over higher inflation and upcoming mini-budget that played on [the] investors’ minds,” an analyst at Pearl Securities said.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 0.46 per cent, or 204.95 points, to close at 43,913.44 points. The KSE-30 shares index lost 0.7 per cent, or 120.99 points, to close at 17,232.48 points.

As many as 342 scrips were active, of which 116 advanced, 196 declined and 30 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 114.6 million shares, compared with the turnover of 223.37 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market remained choppy due to the upcoming mini-budget. “Profit-taking was witnessed in the last trading hour, while [the] market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day.”

The main board volumes remained on the dull note due to the lack of any trigger, whereas activity continued to remain sideways, as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks.

Muhammad Mubashir at JS Global Capital said that profit-taking continued across-the-board over rising concerns regarding resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and the announcement of the mini-budget.

“Going forward, we expect this range-bound activity to continue and recommend investors to avail any downward movement as an opportunity to buy in cement and textile sectors.”

The companies that reflected the highest gains included Colgate Palmolive, up Rs141.01 to close at Rs2,455/share; and Sapphire Textile, up Rs61.5 to close at Rs881.5/share.

The companies, which reflected the most losses included Nestle Pakistan, down Rs270 to close at Rs5,400/share; and Mari Petroleum, down Rs56.46 to close at Rs1,603.53/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Cynergico Pk with a turnover of 10.87 million shares. The scrip gained two paisas to close at Rs6.32/share; followed by TRG Pakistan with a turnover of 9.5 million shares. It shed Rs5.43 to close at Rs112.97/share. Unity Foods Rights remained the third with a turnover of 9.25 million shares. It shed 24 paisas to finish at Rs112.97/share.