KARACHI – The KSE-100 index extended its losses on Friday and shed 171points as investors were wary of the conditions in the new IMF loanprogramme.
Weak investor sentiments coupled with expectations of a tough IMF bailoutpushed the market to trade below the 35,000-point level throughout the day.The bearish activity was also caused by economic uncertainty after theNational Accounts Committee anticipated a sharp slowdown in economic growthto 3.3% in FY19 – the slowest pace in the past nine years.
Earlier, trading began with minor ups and downs, but selling pressureemerged shortly afterwards as investors offloaded stocks. During thesession, the index lost a total of 240 points, but recovered slightly bythe day’s end. Cement, oil marketing, refinery and exploration andproduction stocks mainly contributed to the selling pressure. On the otherhand, automobile and financial stocks outperformed, driven up byspeculations in the pre-budget session.
Dismal data on gas production – which fell 5% – for April 2019, projectionsfor a 6.5-7% fiscal deficit and expected tightening of interest rate playedthe role of catalysts in the bearish close of the market.At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded adecrease of 171.11 points, or 0.49%, to settle at 34,716.53.
Volumes remained lacklustre as 39 million shares changed hands. K-Electric(+0.7%), Maple Leaf Cement (-3.5%) and The Searle Company (-5%) led themarket volumes with cumulative trading in 9.5 million shares. Market watch:KSE-100 sheds 596 points as investors brace for tough IMF bailoutEngro (-1.1%), Pakistan Petroleum (-1%), The Searle Company (-5%), Oil andGas Development Company (OGDC, -0.6%) and DG Khan Cement (-2.8%) were amongmajor laggards. On the news front, the federal government officiallyconfirmed the appointment of Shabbar Zaidi as the new Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) chairman.
The cement sector led the decline where Maple Leaf Cement (-3.5%), DG KhanCement (-2.8%), Kohat Cement (-2.5%), Pioneer Cement (-1.8%) and FaujiCement (-1.9%) remained in the red zone.
Read Top Stories
Selling pressure was also witnessed in the exploration and productionstocks among which Pakistan Petroleum (-1%), OGDC (-0.6%) and PakistanOilfields (-2.3%) stood lower despite an increase in crude oil prices inthe international market.
Overall, trading volumes decreased to 39.3 million shares compared withThursday’s tally of 78.1 million. The value of shares traded during the daywas Rs1.75 billion. Shares of 288 companies were traded. At the end of theday, 77 stocks closed higher, 189 declined and 22 remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 4.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 toclose at Rs4.22. It was followed by Maple Leaf Cement with 2.7 millionshares, losing Rs0.89 to close at Rs24.29 and The Searle Company with 1.9million shares, losing Rs7.44 to close at Rs141.39.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs126.1 million worth ofshares during the trading session, according to data compiled by theNational Clearing Company of Pakistan.
