Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish trend on Monday as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary session left investors on their guard and the benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 337.61 point (-0.73 percent) to close at 45,890.04 points.

The KSE-100 Index traded in a range of 639.7 points, showing an intraday high of 46,402.7 and a low of 45,763. Among other indices, the KSE All Share Index shed 203.61 points (-0.64 percent) to close at 31,647.57 points. The All Share Islamic Index shed 177.77 (-0.77 percent) to close at 22,863.48 points. A total of 414 companies traded shares in the stock exchange, out of them shares of 162 closed up, shares of 230 closed down while shares of 22 companies remained unchanged. All share volume increased 27.24 million to 722.05 million shares, while market capitalisation decreased by Rs54.20 billion. Total trades increased by 15,947 to 197,506, while value traded increased by Rs0.91 billion to Rs25.79 billion.

Among scrips, the volume leader remained HUMNL with 114.35 million shares, followed by BYCO with 109.1 million and TRG with 46.41 million. Sector wise, the index was let down by commercial banks with 218 points, oil & gas exploration companies with 81 points, cement with 44 points, fertilizer with 23 points and power generation & distribution with 21 points. The most points taken off the index was by HBL which stripped the index of 74 points followed by UBL with 59 points, OGDC with 34 points, PPL with 24 points and BAHL with 22 points.

Sectors propping up the index were technology & communication with 100 points, refinery with 9 points, glass & ceramics with 6 points, engineering with 1 points and real estate investment trust with one point. The most points added to the index was by TRG which contributed 105 points followed by GATM with 12 points, BYCO with 8 points, GHGL with 6 points and FML with 6 points. According to the analysts, despite improvement in economic indicators, profit-taking was witnessed throughout the session as the impending outcome of FATF’s virtual plenary session left investors on their guard.

They said that other notable events from Monday’s session include the announcement of figures pertaining to foreign investment in Pakistan by SBP, which totalled $240.6 million during the month of January, i.e. nearly 19% higher as compared to the previous month but 85% lower as compared to the same month of last year.

With regards to direct foreign investment (FDI), Pakistan welcomed $192.7 million as FDI during the month of January 2021, compared to $193.6 million in the previous month and $219.6 million in the same month a year ago, they added.