KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market witnessed profit-taking on Thursday, amid political uncertainty and continuous rupee depreciation, dealers said.
“Pakistan and ITFC [International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation] have signed an agreement of $762 million for the import of crude oil, refined petroleum products, and LNG [liquefied natural gas], which will further fuel the inflation numbers. Cumulatively, the banking, E&P and technology sectors eroded 143 points from the index,” an analyst at Pearl Securities said.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 0.6 per cent, or 281.7 points, to close at 46,348.18 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 0.6 per cent, or 108.07 points, to close at 17,981.39 points.
As many as 352 scrips were active, of which 95 advanced, 232 declined and 25 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 269.5 million shares, compared with the turnover of 320.3 million shares in the last trading session.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said the market opened on a positive note but remained dull in the first half session of the market.
“Concerns on inflation and weakening of [the] rupee against [the] dollar created uncertainly for investors to take fresh positions, which eventually resulted in profit-booking scenario of [the] last day positions in the second half.”
Accumulation was witnessed in the banking sector, as the market participants eyeing towards rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy.
The activity continued to remain sideways, as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third-tier stocks. On the flipside, institutional activity remained lacklustre.
“In the coming days, the market’s direction will likely [to] be contingent on the outcome of [the] IMF [International Monetary Fund] negotiations,” Muhammad Waqar at JS Global Capital said.
The companies that reflected the highest gains included Wyeth Pakistan, up Rs110.68 to close at Rs1,586/share; and Sapphire Textile, up Rs75 to close at Rs1,230/share.
The companies, which reflected the most losses included Unilever Foods, down Rs1,414 to close at Rs18,399/share; and Colgate Palmolive, down Rs46.23 to close at Rs2,568.5/share.
The highest volumes were witnessed in Ghani Global with a turnover of 30.21 million shares. The scrip shed Rs1.05 to close at Rs32.19/share; followed by Services Fabrics with a turnover of 20.52 million shares. It gained 65 paisas to close at Rs12.09/share. Telecard Limited remained the third with a turnover of 14.29 million shares. It shed 34 paisas to finish at Rs18.97.
