PSX begins rollover week on a negative note

• Benchmark KSE-100 shed over 100 points to settle at 46,528.21 amid policy rate concerns.
• The average traded value declined by 51% to reach $47.9 million.
• Sectors contributing to the performance include exploration and production, textile, fertiliser, miscellaneous and banks.

KARACHI: Stocks struggled to find a floor on the first day of the rollover week as bears took control of the market and the benchmark KSE-100 index endured another round of battering, falling over 400 points during the session.

Market participants remained wary ahead of the monetary policy announcement of the State Bank of Pakistan later in the evening.

The central bank hiked the policy rate by 25 basis points to 7.25% for the next two months.

Stocks lost ground in the wake of widening current account deficit and a year-on-year drop in foreign direct investment, which dented investors’ sentiment.

The benchmark KSE-100 index shed 107.87 points or 0.23% on Monday, to close at 46,528.21 points.

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the market took a battering on the first day of the rollover week and lost a total of 421 points during the session.

“The sentiment got dented early on which was obvious from the low volumes at the bourse, where the benchmark KSE-100 posted a total of 75.2 million shares, and All Shares Index posted 195 million,” the report added.

Technology, oil and gas chain (exploration and production, oil marketing companies, refinery) tumbled, whereas limited positive activity was observed in power and cement sectors.

“Monetary policy, which was to be announced after market close, met a hike of 25bps against a street consensus of no change,” the report added.

In the morning, trading kicked off on a positive note, however, the optimism was short-lived and the KSE-100 index dived but later bears and bulls wrestled throughout the day for control of the market with the former maintaining a stronghold.

During the session, shares of 512 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 135 stocks closed in the green, 365 in the red, and 12 remained unchanged.

Volumes declined from 387.2 million shares to 194.7 million shares (-50% day-on-day). The average traded value also declined by 51% to reach $47.9 million as against $96.2 million.

Telecard Limited was the volume leader with 19.8 million shares, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs22.01. It was followed by WorldCall Limited with 13.4 million shares, losing Rs0.06 to close at Rs3.19, and Byco Petroleum with 11.3 million shares, losing Rs0.13 to close at Rs8.8.

Sectors contributing to the performance include exploration and production (-33 points), textile (-26 points), fertiliser (-16 points), miscellaneous (+45 points) and banks (+16 points).

Individually, stocks that contributed positively to the index included Pakistan Services (+46 points), MCB (+42 points), UBL (+20 points), Lucky Cement (+13 points) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+11 points). 

Stocks that contributed negatively were Oil and Gas Development Company (-22 points), Systems Limited (-17 points), Kohat Cement (-14 points), Engro Corporation (-14 points) and Meezan Bank (-13 points).