KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure on Monday as the benchmark KSE-100 shed huge 604.35 to drop to 41483.54 level at closing.
The stocks recorded the highest trading level of 42161.80 points and lowest level of 41414.12 points, with the volume of 153.46 million shares and value of Rs8.03 billion. As many as 354 companies were active; of which 93 advanced, 239 declined and 22 remained unchanged.
Dost Steels Ltd was the volume leader with 19.57 million shares, adding Rs0.20 to reach Rs13.73. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 15.33 million shares, adding Rs0.69 to end at Rs14.52 and Sui North Gas with 9.82 million shares, gaining Rs4.29 to close at Rs126.19.
The top three gainers were Rafhan Maize with price per share of 7350 (350), Unilever Foods with price per share of 7136.50 (336.50) and Khyber Tobacco of 1349.99 (42.74).
The top three losers were Bata (Pak) with price per share of 12425 (-145.37), Nestle Pakistan with price per share of 12300 (-125) and Mari Petroleum share of 1484.58 (-39.65).
Earlier, the stocks started new week on positive note but remained under pressure as the benchmark 100-index added 40 points to reach 42128 level in early trading. The Pakistan Stock Exchange became bearish and lost 42,000 mark after shedding 343 points to drop to 41745 level till midday.
Last week, the benchmark KSE-100 index post a remarkable recovery of 2,241 points (+5.6 percent WoW) to close at 42,088 and cut losses in YTD 2017 to 12 percent.
The overall activity also picked up with average traded volumes and traded value clocking-in at 185 million shares per day (+27 percent WoW) and $88 million per day (+48 percent WoW), respectively. Banks/DFIs ($9.2m), Insurance Companies ($3.6m) and Brokers ($2.6m) were key net buyers during the week, while foreigners were net sellers of $7.3 million. The cement sector (+11 percent WoW) led the index rally, even though confusion surrounded the market over potential increase/decrease in discounts offered by the cement manufacturers.
Activity was seen in index heavy blue chips; average volumes were up by robust 27 percent while traded value surged 48 percent. Top 5 best performers as per KSE-100 index points were LUCK (+13 percent WoW), ENGRO (+9 percent), PPL (+8 percent), DGKC (+13 percent) and OGDC (+5 percent), cumulatively adding 706 points.
Sector-wise Refinery was up 78 percent; ATRL posted higher than expected 1QFY18 result which boosted sentiments while NRL and APL also rallied post their result announcements, Cement sector rose 11 percent and contributed 476 points as concerns of further price dip eases while DGKC’s higher than expected result announcement lifted confidence, OMC’s rose 8 percent, E&Ps and Ferts were up 6 percent.
During the outgoing week Banks bought $9.2 million, while individuals sold $5.2 million worth of Pak equities. Foreigners were net sellers of $7.4 million during the week vs net buying of $38.9 million during last week. Current account deficit (CAD) in September amounted to $956 million. CAD during 1QFY18 stood at $3.5 billion. CAD is around 4.2 percent of the GDP.
International Industries (INIL) disclosed its 1QFY18 earning per share (EPS) of Rs5.5, up 30 percent YoY. Sales grew by 57 percent YoY whereas gross profit rose by 38 percent YoY. Gross Margins also declined by 200bps to 16 percent. However, the earning fell short of market expectations. Security Papers (SEPL) reported 1QFY18 earning of Rs154.3 million (EPS of Rs2.6), up 2 percent YoY. Sales grew by 13 percent while gross margins declined by 1 point to 36 percent.