KARACHI
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned positive on Tuesday in a volatile session following a free fall of 1,250 points a day earlier, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining 26.03 points (+0.06 percent) to close at 43,928.08 points.
The PSX opened on a sharp negative note and hit the intra-day’s lowest level. However, the index turned around soon and within the next hour, the index hit the intra-day’s highest level. The last hour of trading saw profit-taking and selling pressure brought the index back to the red territory; however, the index managed to close in the green.
The index witnessed the volatile trading due to the political events that took place on Sunday, as President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s advice after a no-confidence motion against the sitting premier was dismissed by the NA speaker. All these events dented the investors’ confidence.
All eyes are on the Supreme Court verdict on the National Assembly Speaker’s ruling of April 3 that led to a constitutional crisis-like situation in the country, an analyst at Pearl Securities said. “The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has paused the negotiations until a new government is formed. Moreover, the exchange rate is in free-fall as the dollar touched a high of Rs185.
The trade deficit in the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 has clocked-in at $35 billion, while the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reserves have depleted to $11 billion signaling worsening economic situation,” he added.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 505.8 points, showing an intraday low of 43,784.03 points and a high of 44,289.83. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 12.56 points (+0.04 percent) to close at 30,141.9 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 0.66 points (+0.01 percent) to close at 21,664.36 points.
A total of 311 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 158 closed up, shares of 126 closed down while shares of 27 companies remained unchanged. Out of 89 traded companies in the KSE-100 Index, 44 closed up, 41 closed down and four remained unchanged.
The overall market volumes decreased by 54.85 million to 115.64 million shares. Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 23.15 million to 52.69 million shares. The number of total trades decreased by 23,180 to 62,698, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.92 billion to Rs4.58 billion.
Among scrips, TELE topped the volumes for the second straight day with 12.91 million shares, followed by TPLP (6.71 million) and EPCL (6.52 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TELE, TPLP, EPCL, GGL and KEL, which formed around 33 percent of total volumes.
In terms of rupee, BTL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs34.5 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs494.51. The runner-up was SIEM, the share price of which climbed up by Rs26.97 (+4.53 percent) to Rs622. SFL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs62 (-7.47 percent) per share, closing at Rs768, followed by SRVI, the share price of which declined by Rs23.77 (-5.32 percent) to close at Rs423.25 per share.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that another volatile day was observed at the PSX as Index opened in the negative zone due to political unrest and devaluation of rupee against the dollar.
“During the second hour of trading, value buying was observed which led the KSE-100 Index to stay in the positive zone as a rally was witnessed in the cements and fertilizer sector. In the last trading hour, across the board profit taking was witnessed,” he added.
