KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with its bearish trend on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 68.74 points (-0.17 percent) to close at 40,152.05 points.
The market has fallen for eight out of the last nine sessions after the presentation of the budget for fiscal year 2023-24 as hopes for revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme are fading. The investors remained cautious amid uncertainty over the resumption of the IMF loan programme. Moreover, the budget for fiscal year 2024 proposed a host of taxes which discouraged investors.
Later, the meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva in Paris concluded without any indications of Pakistan securing the IMF tranche. “We had a fruitful discussion on how the IMF can continue to work closely with Pakistan on policies to maintain macroeconomic stability and advance inclusive growth for the Pakistani people,” Kristalina tweeted right after the meeting.
The market opened on a positive note and gained over 150 points due to initial buying. Soon, the selling spree gripped the market which continued for the next two hours and the indices landed in the red. Later, some buying was witnessed and the indices turned to green again but heavy selling returned, which continued for the rest of the session.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 287.21 points showing an intraday high of 40,378.59 points and a low of 40,091.38 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 50.54 points (-0.19 percent) to close at 27,233.31 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 59.89 points (-0.30 percent) to close at 19,924.20 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 65.61 million against 47.52 million a session earlier, showing an increase of 18.09 million shares. The overall market volumes increased by 19.46 million to 116.48 million shares against 97.02 million shares a session earlier.
Among scrips, KEL topped the volumes with 27.05 million shares, followed by WTL (25.46 million) and BOP (3.3 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included KEL, WTL, BOP, SNBL, and TRG, which formed around 53 percent of total volumes.
A total of 307 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 320 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 106 closed up, shares of 167 closed down while shares of 34 companies remained unchanged. A total of 96 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 92 companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 34 companies closed up, 55 closed down and seven remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 9,101 to 55,208 against 64,309 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.96 billion to Rs2.56 billion.
In terms of rupee, UPFL remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs1,450.9 (+6.6 percent) per share, closing at Rs23,449.9. The runner-up remained PAKT, the share price of which climbed up by Rs28.85 (+4.65 percent) to Rs648.85. NESTLE remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs202.5 (-3.05 percent) per share, closing at Rs6,447.5, followed by BATA, the share price of which fell by Rs57 (-3.26 percent) to close at Rs1,693 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were chemical (51 points), fertilizer (30 points), commercial banks (16 points), oil & gas marketing companies (13 points), and investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (8 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained COLG (34 points), ENGRO (21 points), LOTCHEM (16 points), TRG (15 points), and NESTLE (13 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were automobile assembler (31 points), power generation & distribution (30 points), tobacco (10 points), property (6 points), and pharmaceuticals (5 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained MTL (34 points), HUBC (18 points), SYS (15 points), UPFL (12 points), and PAKT (10 points).
