KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a profit-taking session on the first day of the week backed by the concerns over the upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme along with another hike in the electricity prices, dealers said on Monday.
An analyst at Pearl Securities said Pakistan booked the most expensive LNG cargo, which would further add fuel to the inflation.
“Further, EIU has said that the inflation will remain higher in Pakistan for the next six months and the rupee is likely to continue on a depreciatory path.”
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares index shed 0.38 per cent, or 180.76 points, to close at 47,115.04 points. The KSE-30 shares index shed 0.53 per cent, or 97.25 points, to close at 18,258.29 points.
As many as 368 scrips were active, of which 125 advanced, 228 declined and 15 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 364.89 million shares, compared with the turnover of 469.86 million shares in the last trading session.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market continued to remain range-bound, as inflationary concerns heated up among the investors after the statement came from the adviser to the prime minister on finance that the IMF has asked the government to further hike levy on petroleum products.
“[The] textile sector remained under pressure, as the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) had already moved a summary to the Federal Cabinet for ending subsidised gas supply to the industrial sector, including captive power plants immediately.”
The activity continued to remain sideways, as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks. On the flip-side, institutional activity stayed lacklustre. In the last trading hour, profit-taking was witnessed across-the-board mainly led by the technology sector.
Going forward, the analysts expect the market to move both ways, and recommend investors to book profits at a higher level.
The companies that reflected the highest gains included Nestle Pakistan, up Rs60 to close at Rs5,850/share; and Bata Pakistan, up Rs42 to close at Rs1,890/share.
The companies, which reflected the most losses included Rafhan Maize, down Rs400 to close at Rs9,350/share; and Sapphire Textile, down Rs87.6 to close at Rs1,080.4/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in Hum Network with a turnover of 39.57 million shares. The scrip gained 23 paisas to close at Rs7.24/share; followed by Telecard Limited with a turnover of 30.08 million shares. It gained 39 paisas to close at Rs19.02/share. First National Equities remained the third with a turnover of 25.99 million shares. It shed 31 paisas to finish at Rs10.04.
