KARACHI
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bearish for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 145.28 points (-0.35 percent) to close at 41,369.16 points.
The concerns about the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme turned the market bearish. Overall, the benchmark index has shed around 436 points during the four sessions after the presentation of the 2023-24 budget.
Pakistan is at an increasing risk of failing to restart its $6.7 billion bailout programme with the IMF, putting the country closer to a sovereign default, Moody’s Investors Service said. “There are increasing risks that Pakistan may be unable to complete the IMF programme that expires at the end of June,” said Grace Lim, a sovereign analyst with the ratings company in Singapore. “Without an IMF programme, Pakistan could default, given its very weak reserves.”
IMF’s Resident Representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz said on Thursday that Pakistan’s budget for the financial year 2023-24 has missed an opportunity to broaden the tax base in a more progressive way. Esther said that the IMF team stands ready to work with the government in refining this budget ahead of its passage.
The market opened on a positive note, with the KSE-100 Index gaining over 100 points and hitting the day-high due to buying activity in the first few minutes trading amid low volumes. The indices remained in the green for the first 10 minutes only and then bears controlled the market.
The KSE-100 Index moved in a range of 370.21 points, showing an intraday high of 41,639.33 points and a low of 41,269.12 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 73.36 points (-0.26 percent) to close at 28,020.36 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 60.78 points (-0.30 percent) to close at 20,560.67 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index remained 44.87 million against 40.60 million a session earlier, showing an increase of 4.27 million shares. The overall market volumes decreased by 29.96 million to 149.68 million shares against 179.64 million shares a session earlier.
Among scrips, TPLP topped the volumes with 21.69 million shares, followed by WTL (17.47 million) and BIPL (9.35 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included TPLP, WTL, BIPL, PACE and HASCOL, which formed around 43 percent of total volumes.
A total of 309 companies traded shares in the stock exchange as compared to 317 a session earlier. Out of traded companies, shares of 77 closed up, shares of 208 closed down while shares of 24 companies remained unchanged. A total of 92 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 91 companies a session earlier, out of which shares of 25 companies closed up, 63 closed down and four remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 6,665 to 73,910 against 80,575 a session earlier, while the value traded decreased by Rs0.16 billion to Rs3.6 billion.
In terms of rupee, COLG remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs78.55 (7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,125.89. The runner-up remained BATA, the share price of which climbed up by Rs49.48 (+2.75 percent) to Rs1,846.48. AWTX remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs176.96 (-7.48 percent) per share, closing at Rs2,188, followed by SFL, the share price of which fell by Rs71.34 (-6.6 percent) to close at Rs1,010 per share.
The sectors taking the index towards south were fertilizer (59 points), oil & gas exploration companies (43 points), cement (31 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (15 points), and technology & communication (11 points).
The sectors taking the index towards north were chemical (41 points), commercial banks (16 points), automobile assembler (8 points), leather & tanneries (2 points), and close-end mutual funds (1 point).
