PSX snaps 7-session winning streak amid low volumes

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) snapped a seven-session winning streak in a low-volume session on Monday and turned to profit-taking, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding 258.34 points (-0.34 percent) to close at 75,084 points.
The market opened on a positive note and gained over 150 points in the first half an hour. However, profit-taking kicked in soon that pushed the index into the negative territory. This profit-taking was expected as the market hit record highs last week. “Pakistan’s equity market experienced a consolidation day today,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
The KSE-100 Index closed above the 75,000 points level for the first time in the previous session on Friday. The benchmark KSE-100 index has surged by 81.18 percent during the last one year and 16.12 during the current year.
The market’s historic bull run, which started last year with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal, has been further fueled amid strong foreign buying spree, renewed bets for interest rate cuts due to improvement in economic conditions, and official talks for a new IMF program. Foreign buying in the current month to date has amounted to over $21 million, and has been on its way to record the longest monthly buying streak since at least 2016, according to NCCPL data. In the current fiscal year, foreign buying has amounted to around $145 million, as against an outflow of $5.5 million in the same period last year.
The benchmark index traded in a range of 884.25 points showing an intraday high of 75,618.49 points and a low of 74,734.24 points. The total volume of the KSE-100 index remained 141.36 million shares. Of the 100 index companies, 36 closed up, 60 closed down, two were unchanged, while two remained untraded.
The KSE-100 index was let down by commercial banks (125 points), cement (77 points), oil & gas exploration companies (62 points), investment banks/ investment companies/ securities companies (45 points), and fertilizer (30 points).
On the flip side, the index was supported by technology & communication (77 points), engineering (37 points), automobile parts & accessories (19 points), power generation & distribution (19 points), and leather & tanneries (5 points). The companies that dragged the index lower were MCB (58 points), ENGRO (58 points), OGDC (40 points), DAWH (40 points), and HBL (31 points).
On the other hand, companies that added points to the index were SYS (51 points), MEBL (25 points), TRG (23 points), FFBL (22 points), and INIL (22 points).
In the broader market, the KSE All-Share Index closed at 48,646.22 with a net loss of 123.24 points. Total market volume remained 375.36 million shares compared to 496.70 million in the previous session while traded value was recorded at Rs16.30 billion showing a decrease of Rs1.35 billion as compared to previous session. There were 221,342 trades reported in 378 companies with 137 closing up, 221 closing down and 20 remaining unchanged. – TLTP