KARACHI: A three-day long bullish streak broke on Thursday as the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed in the negative amid profit booking.
Equity markets around the world displayed a mixed pattern, whereas crude oil prices moved north from the previous close; WTI crude price rising 0.75pc to $40.33 while Brent crude price increasing 0.77pc to $42.05.
“The market opened on a positive note but profit booking dragged the index down to the red. Instead of any negative development on economic or political front, today’s profit booking was largely an outcome of risk taking at the beginning of this week. The FATF’s decision regarding Pakistan will be announced tomorrow after the close of the market; outcome of this decision will have an impact [on the market] from next week,” said a report issued by AHL Ltd.
MARKET SUMMARY
In line with this week’s trend, the benchmark KSE-100 Index started the positively, touching its intraday high at 41,818.24 after gaining 282.32 points. However, it failed to sustain gains and slipped to its intraday low at 41,088.38 (447.54 points) later in the day. It finally ended lower by 336.90 points at 41,199.02.
Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index lost 794.61 points to close at 65,635.60, while the KSE All Share Index dropped 247.13 points, settling at 29,046.21.
The overall market volumes fell from 661.19 million shares in the previous session to 500.09 million shares (-25pc). Average traded value also declined by 21pc, from $135.1 million to $106.9 million. Unity Foods Ltd (UNTY +2.86pc), Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBTL -6.16pc) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (MLCF +3.10pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 61.28 million, 56.23 million and 44.49 million shares, respectively.
Sectors that dragged the benchmark index south included oil & gas exploration (-109.88 points), power generation & distribution (-85.13 points) and oil & gas marketing (-38.11 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -71.15 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -40.17 points) and Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL -33.19 points) dented the index the most.
Shedding 2.43pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas exploration sector ended as the session’s top loser, with OGDC (-2.70pc), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (MARI -2.00pc), PPL (-2.47pc) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL -1.91pc) posting significant losses.
On the financial side, Cherat Packaging Ltd (CPPL +3.38pc) announced earnings per share of Rs3.24 for 1QFY21 (Rs0.53 last year); National Foods Ltd (NATF -1.48pc) declared an EPS of Rs2.56 for 1QFY21 (Rs8.77 last year); Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBTL -6.30pc) posted an EPS of Rs0.26 (Rs0.26 in 1QFY20); whereas Askari Bank Ltd (AKBL +3.22pc) recorded an EPS of Rs2.54 for 3QFY20 (Rs1.00 last year).
Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, Hascol Petroleum Ltd (HASCOL -5.90pc) informed that it was challenging the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority’s order to suspend the company’s marketing license for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with a penalty of Rs10 million.
