PSX stumbles on political uncertainty

PSX stumbles on political uncertainty

KARACHI: Stocks fell on Monday as profit-taking remained the order of the day amid fears of renewed political wrangling as PTI preps for their long march, and lingering economic jitters arising from the frail rupee and elusive foreign inflows.

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 41,755 points after losing 193.05 points or 0.46%.

“After opening sideways, the market succumbed to profit-booking over political and economic uncertainties, pressing the index to make an intraday low of 222 points,” Topline Securities said in a post-market note.

The major laggards were TRG Pakistan, Oil and Gas Development Company, and Pakistan Petroleum, which cumulatively dented the index by 85 points. On the results front, Bank AlFalah posted its 3Q2022 earnings per share at Rs3.1.

Arif Habib Limited in its daily market wrap said stocks weakened after starting the day with a positive gap, attributable to political unrest. “The turnover declined dramatically in the main board; however, decent volumes were recorded in the third-tier stocks,” the brokerage said.

Sectors that weighed on the stocks included exploration and production (-49.5 points), cement (-32.1 points), technology and communication (-15.2 points), commercial banks (-14.7 points) and chemical (-14.2 points).

PSX stumbles on political uncertainty

Shares of 348 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 127 scrips closed in the green, 205 in the red, and 16 remained unchanged. Overall trading volumes rose to 144.31 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 328.65 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.66 billion.

Worldcall Telecom was the volume leader with 18.04 million shares traded, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs1.55. It was followed by Dewan Cement with 6.78 million shares traded, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs5.72 and Lotte Chemical with 31.92 million shares gaining Rs0.17 to close at Rs31.92.