PSX gains 82 points in low-vol session ahead of MPC meeting

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) eroded some of the losses of the previous sessions a day ahead of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, with the KSE-100 Index gaining 82.53 points (+0.18 percent) to close at 45,590.92 points on Wednesday.
The market witnessed a low-volume and cautious trading session. The market opened on a positive note but took a dip to hit the day’s low within the first 15 minutes trading. Later, the indices moved towards green territory and stayed there for the rest of the session. The Pakistani rupee extended gains against the US dollar in the interbank market by around Rs1.07 but the market remained somewhat unaffected, fearing a hike in interest rate in the MPC week on September 14. In the previous two sessions, the benchmark index shed 357 points on Tuesday and 147.75 points on Monday.
The latest treasury-bills auction on Thursday last witnessed a sharp increase in the cut-off yields, reaching 24.5 percent, 24.78 percent, and 25.06percent for three, six, and 12 months respectively. This showed a rise of 162bps for 3 months and 213bps for 12 months as compared to the last auction held on August 23. This indicates that the market is pricing in a higher interest rate scenario in the near future.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 232.51 points, showing an intraday high of 45,732.72 points and an intraday low of 45,500.21 points. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index gained 49.54 points (+0.16 percent) to close at 30,426.67 points, while KMI All Share Islamic Index gained 84.01 points (+0.38 percent) to close at 22,091.34 points.
Total volumes traded for the KSE-100 Index decreased by 10.98 million shares to 47.42 million shares against 58.40 million shares traded a session earlier. The overall market volumes decreased by 23.57 million shares to 102.77 million shares against 126.34 million shares traded a session earlier.
Among scrips, DFML topped the volumes with 7.2 million shares, followed by AGL (6.51 million) and CNERGY (5.01 million). Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included DFML, AGL, CNERGY, WTL, and MLCF, which formed over 26 percent of total volumes.
A total of 297 companies traded shares in the stock exchange against 293 a session earlier, out of which shares of 122 closed up, shares of 133 closed down while shares of 42 companies remained unchanged. A total of 94 companies traded shares in the KSE-100 Index against 92 a session earlier, out of which share price of 47 companies closed up, 35 closed down and 12 remained unchanged.
The number of total trades decreased by 10,410 to 69,593 as compared to 80,003 trades recorded in the previous session, while the value traded decreased by Rs1.19 billion to Rs3.80 billion as compared to Rs4.99 billion in the previous session.
In terms of rupee, BATA remained the top gainer and witnessed an increase of Rs25 (+1.47 percent) per share, closing at Rs1,725. The runner-up remained LCI, the share price of which climbed up by Rs18.61 (+3.06 percent) to Rs627.12. PSEL remained the top loser in terms of rupee and witnessed a decrease of Rs30 (-4.41 percent) per share, closing at Rs650, followed by MUREB, the share price of which fell by Rs13.16 (-4.41 percent) to close at Rs285.24 per share.
The major sectors taking the index towards north remained investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (60 points), cement (51 points), oil & gas marketing companies (17 points), oil & gas exploration companies (17 points), and chemical (7 points). The major companies adding points to the index remained DAWH (60 points), LUCK (41 points), PPL (15 points), SNGP (11 points), and PSO (9 points).
The sectors taking the index towards south were fertilizer (19 points), commercial banks and miscellaneous (18 points each), technology & communication (13 points), and glass & ceramics (5 points). The major companies depriving the index of points remained MCB (21 points), PSEL (17 points), TRG (13 points), FFC (9 points), and ENGRO (8 points). – TLTP