Market sheds 314 points amid profit-taking

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) turned towards profit-taking a day after Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 314.39 points (-0.48 percent) to close at 65,417.40 points on Thursday.
The market opened on a sharp positive note by adding over 250 points to the index after the bell, and remained in the green for the most part of the session. However, the profit-taking made inroads as the index surpassed the 66,000 points level. The profit-taking was in line with expectations, as the market participants were expecting this after an agreement with the IMF.
Earlier on Wednesday, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the final review of a $3 billion bailout, where the country will receive $1.1 billion after approval from the Fund’s Executive Board in late April. “Pakistan’s economic and financial position has improved in the months since the first review, with growth and confidence continuing to recover on the back of prudent policy management and the resumption of inflows from multilateral and bilateral partners,” IMF’s mission chief, Nathan Porter, said in a statement.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 870.22 points, showing an intraday high of 66,196.23 points and an intraday low of 65,326.01 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 194.67 points (-0.45 percent) to close at 43,499.91 points. Similarly, the KMI All Share Islamic Index shed 245.32 points (-0.89 percent) to close at 30,943.94 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index increased to 242.67 million shares from 170.68 million shares a session earlier, while the overall market volumes increased to 389.65 million shares from 341.84 million shares a session earlier. Among scrips, PTC topped the volumes with 52.9 million shares, followed by PIBTL (41.98 million) and BOP (29.1 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included PTC, PIBTL, BOP, WTL, and GATM, which formed around 44 percent of total volumes.
A total of 355 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 341 a session earlier, out of which shares of 113 closed up, shares of 221 companies closed down while shares of 21 companies remained unchanged.
A total of 98 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 96 a session earlier, out of which share prices of 33 companies closed up, 62 companies closed down and three remained unchanged.
The number of total trades increased to 155,386 from 138,109 on day-on-day (DoD) basis, while the value traded decreased to Rs11.31 billion from Rs11.84 billion a session earlier.
In terms of rupee, PECO remained the top gainer with an increase of Rs38.16 (+7.5 percent) per share, closing at Rs546.99. The runner-up remained JDWS, the share price of which climbed up by Rs31.45 (+7.5 percent) to Rs450.75. RMPL remained the top loser with a decrease of Rs350.01 (-4.08 percent) per share, closing at Rs8,225, followed by KHYT, the share price of which fell by Rs49.66 (-7.5 percent) to close at Rs612.53 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards south remained cement (112 points), oil & gas exploration companies (102 points), technology and communication (72 points), oil & gas marketing companies (24 points), miscellaneous (18 points), and refinery (13 points).- TLTP