LAHORE: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) had a lazy start to the week. Despite timely Senate election; Pakistan stocks closed flat on the first day of the week amid dull volumes, owing to lack of any trigger. As a result, benchmark index KSE-100 closed at 43,829 level, gaining 88 points. Investors mainly followed “wait and watch” approach in expectations of any new trigger that could likely be i) expected the announcement of tax amnesty scheme, ii) appointment of senate chairman, and/or iii) new budgetary measures by the Government. The market witnessed a decline of 40 per cent/38 per cent in traded volumes and value, respectively.
Market participation for the KSE 100 index declined to 44.75 million shares (-46.9 per cent on day on day basis). A major contribution to total market volume came from UNITY (+5.00 per cent), WTL (+1.21 per cent) and AGL (+1.50 per cent) churning 27.42 million shares out of the All Share volume of 137.04 million shares.
Daily traded value for the KSE 100 index declined to $33.50 million from $57.86 million in the previous session (-42 per cent on d/d basis); DGKC ($3.70 million), UNITY ($2.40 million) and ENGRO ($2.28 million) were among top contributors from traded value perspective.
Cement sectors continued its buoyant performance for the fifth consecutive session and contributed 42 points to the index. EPCL gained 4 per cent as the company has increased PVC prices by ~3 per cent. Similarly, AGPL closed at its upper limit on the very first day of its trading.
Top 5 stocks including HBL (+1.3 per cent), LUCK (+1.3 per cent), FCCL (+3.9 per cent), BAHL (+1.5 per cent) & PIBTL (+4.5 per cent) added 110 points to the index gain, whereas stocks including MCB (-0.8 per cent), UBL (-0.6 per cent), PPL (-0.6 per cent), ENGRO (-0.6 per cent) & MTL (-1.1 per cent), withheld 56 points from the index.
IGI Life insurance (IGIL) announced its financial results for 2017, where EPS of the company clocked in at Rs2.87, up by 18 per cent YoY. Additionally, the company announced a dividend of Rs1 per share.
Tri-Pack Films notified exchange regarding its investment of Rs2.2 billion to acquire new state of the art machinery for the production of films and transparent and high strength metalized films.
Sazgar Engineering disclosed its production (1,642 units) and sales numbers (1,662 units) for the month of Feb-18.
The market volumes saw a huge hit and came down from 229.57 million to just 136.72 million. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY 5.00 per cent) fetched the most interest of investors as 10.22 million shares were exchanged in the script. Worldcall Telecom Limited (WTL +0.80 per cent) was next with volume of 9.05 million followed by Agritech Limited (AGL +2.33 per cent), volume 2.33 million.
Large market capitalisation sectors showed small movements. Commercial Banks inched up by just 0.40 per cent. The Oil and Gas Exploration sector inched down 0.12 per cent while the cement sector inflated by 0.97 per cent.
JS Bank Limited (JSBL -1.21 per cent) reported a 35 per cent extension in its markup earned for 2017. Lower non-markup income and increased expenses pulled per share earnings down from Rs1.77 to Rs0.74.
AGP Limited (AGP +5.00 per cent) commenced trading at the counter on Monday. The script hit the upper circuit breaker.
Meanwhile, the KMI 30 index appreciated by 299.77 points and depreciated by 154.25 points to conclude the day 151.1 points in the green at 74,453.38. The KSE All Share Index added 71.22 points to its bag on a day when 161 scripts advanced while 173 declined.
