KARACHI: After trading in the green zone for a brief period, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell in the grip of bears on Friday, following the official announcement made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that Pakistan will remain on the grey list until next February.
The FATF has strongly urged Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan by February 2020. Should significant and sustainable progress was not made across the full range of its action plan by the next plenary meeting, the FATF would take the due action (blacklisting Pakistan).
The KSE-100 Index gained 197.83 points to mark an intraday high of 34,096.39. The index then lost its momentum and reached its intraday low at 33,667.80 after shedding 230.76 points. However, it managed to recover some losses and ended the session down by 28.41 points at 33,870.15.
The KMI-30 Index fell 389.40 points to end at 54,589.47, while the KSE All Share Index declined by 136.16 points, settling at 24,453.83. Out of the total traded shares, 132 advanced and 182 declined.
The overall trading volumes fell from 137.99 million in the previous session to 114.99 million. Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited (LOTCHEM -3.13pc) topped the volume chart with 18.39 million shares exchanging hands, followed by Engro Fertilizer Limited (EFERT +4.44pc) with 7.82 million traded shares. The company announced its financial performance for the third quarter of FY19, along with an interim cash dividend of Rs6.
EFERT’s sales increased by 8pc to Rs18.54 billion as compared to the same period last year; other income jumped by 49pc while finance cost surged by 87pc on a yearly basis. The earnings per share for the third quarter stood at Rs3.53 while cumulative EPS was recorded at Rs9.90.
Sectors that pulled the index in the red zone included banking (-51.59 points), tobacco (-37.47 points) and chemical (-12.50 points), whereas fertilizer (+104.31 points), investment banking (+5.55 points) and food and personal care products (+5.02 points) remained unsuccessful in helping the index improve.
Philip Morris Pakistan Limited (PMPK -5.00pc) announced an EPS of Rs-12.70 for 3QFY19 (Rs2.55 in 3QFY18), Bank AlFalah Limited (BAFL -0.69pc) posted an EPS of Rs1.71 (Rs1.61 in 3QFY18) and International Industries Limited (INIL -4.99pc) declared an EPS of Rs-0.91 (Rs6.09 in 3QFY18).
