KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw another lacklustre session on Friday, as investors opted a cautious approach ahead of the Financial Action Task Force’s decision, which was announced later in the day.
According to media reports, the FATF has retained Pakistan in its ‘grey list’ and that the country has been given until June to fully implement the 27-point action plan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves inched up 0.06pc or $12 million to $18,747 million (as on February 14, 2020). Forex reserves in the previous week stood at $18,735 million. Net reserves with the State Bank of Pakistan increased by 0.59pc, whereas net reserves with commercial banks fell by 0.99pc.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index, which opened the day at 40,496.11, reached its intraday high at 40,527.08 minutes after the commencement of the session. It then slipped by 310.55 points to hit its day’s low at 40,171.10. The index finally settled lower by 232.43 points at 40,249.22.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 553.24 points to end at 63,541.78, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 122.87 points, closing at 27,895.15.
Sectors that contributed negativity to the KSE-100 Index included fertilizer (-91.75 points), banking (-64.30 points) and oil & gas exploration (-48.54 points). Among the companies, Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO -65.50 points), MCB Bank Limited (MCB -44.45 points) and Dawood Hercules Corporation Limited (DAWH -33.66 points) dented the index the most.
The overall market volumes shrank from 111.99 million in the last session to 85.60 million. Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited (MLCF +1.28pc), Kot Addu Power Company Limited (KAPCO +1.36pc) and Fauji Foods Limited (FFL +2.33pc) topped the volume chart, exchanging 8.08 million, 7.50 million and 5.88 million shares, respectively.
On the financial side, Fauji Cement Company Limited (FCCL -1.79pc) declared earnings per share (EPS) of Rs0.14 for the second quarter of FY20 (Rs0.74 in 2QFY19); Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO -2.82pc) posted an EPS of Rs24.83 for FY19 as compared to Rs22.08 in FY18; Kot Addu Power Company Limited (KAPCO +1.36pc) published an EPS of Rs7.60 for 2QFY20 (Rs4.07 in 2QFY19), while Mughal Iron and Steel Industries (MUGHAL -4.71pc) announced an EPS of Rs0.41 for 2QFY20 (Rs1.43 last year).
