KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) had a forgettable start to the trading week, with the indices crumbling amid concerns over rising coronavirus cases and an overall decline in global growth forecasts.
Foreign investors closed the previous week (Feb 17-21) as net sellers, recording a net outflow of $8.57 million.
Losing over 1,169.44 points, the benchmark KSE-100 Index touched its intraday low at 39,079.78. It settled lower by 1,105.49 points at 39,143.73. The KMI-30 Index plunged 2,026.23 points or -3.19pc to close at 61,515.55, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 646.85 points, ending at 27,248.30. Out of the total traded scripts, 44 advanced and 258 declined.
Sectors responsible for KSE-100’s fall included banking (-311.02 points), oil & gas exploration (-187.83 points) and fertilizer (-109.39 points). Among the companies, Pak Petroleum Limited (PPL -86.11 points), Habib Bank Limited (HBL -77.64 points) and Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC -67.45 points) dented the index the most.
The overall market volumes improved from the previous week and were recorded at 144.28 million, with Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL -6.43pc), Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -7.01pc) and K-Electric Limited (KEL -3.93pc) topping the volume chart. The scrips had exchanged 14.36 million, 11.55 million and 10.63 million shares, respectively.
On the financial side, Rafhan Maize Products Limited (RMPL +4.48pc) announced that its revenue inflated by 19.27pc YoY to Rs35.26 billion in FY19. The company’s earnings per share increased from Rs516.62 in FY18 to Rs610.77.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited (PAKT -4.06pc) released its financial performance for the second quarter of FY20. Despite a 2.14pc reduction in sales, the company’s gross profit margin improved from 43.84pc in FY18 to 50.40pc. It’s EPS increased from Rs40.46 in FY18 to Rs50.45 in FY19.
