Daily Times

Investors continue to lose momentum at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as benchmark kse-100 succumbed to selling pressure for the third consecutive day, and lost 366.17 points by the closing bell to clock at 45,362.58 index level.

On Wednesday,the indexwitnessed another choppy session, with continuous selling pressure in line with the previous session. Selling pressure was primarily observed in banks, cement and steel sectors as selling was primarily led by trading activity which has been knocked by the rollover week, wherein phenomenal activities of offloading the stocks purchased earlier at attractive valuation has kicked in.

Major strain on the trading activity was caused by financial results of OGDCL (Oil & gas development Company Limited) , wherein the company reported a 20.5% decline in net profits to Rs 42.2 billion with Earnings per share (EPS) of Rs 9.82 during 1HFY21, against the profits of Rs 53 billion (EPS: Rs 12.35) earned in the corresponding period of last year.

Investors were also wary as market remained jittery as they chose to trade cautiously ahead of the outcome of a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting. A four-day virtual plenary began on Monday and final decision would be announced by the FATF president on February 25.

Sentiments were also dented after following a dismal investment data revealed by Country’s central bank. Foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first seven months of the current fiscal year fell by 27 per cent compared to the same period of last fiscal year, SBP reveled. The FDI during July-Jan FY21 was $1.145 billion against an inflow of $1.577billion in the same period last fiscal year. The inflow during January was $192.7m compared to $219m in the same month of previous fiscal year; 12 per cent decline was noted.

During the session, the index witnessed a volatile session and registered its intraday high at 45,887.77 levelafter gaining 159.02 points, however failing to sustain earlier gains the index reversed its trajectory, and touched intraday low at 45,205.48 after it lost 523.27 points.

The volume table was led byByco Petroleum Pakistan Limited followed by TRG Pakistan Limited and Media Times Limited. The scrips exchanged 84.36 million, 47.48 million and 27.27 million shares, respectively.

The volume at Kse-100 clocked in at jumped from256.32 million shares recorded in the previous session to 280.82 million shares ,however the all-share volume alsofell from717.40 million shares in the previous session to 557.5 million shares.

According to the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limitedforeign investors were net sellers of worth $3.7 million worth of equities. But, among local investors, brokers and individuals led the selling chart, and offloaded $3.99 million and $2.83 million worth of equities. Meanwhile, Banks and Companies raked in $3.15 million and $2.23 million worth of equities.

Sectors that dented the index were Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 48 points, Fertilizer with 46 points, Textile Composite with 41 points, Power Generation & Distribution with 38 points and Oil & Gas Marketing Companies with 36 points. Among the scrips, the most points taken off the index was by OGDC which stripped the index of 32 points followed by ENGRO with 26 points, Pakistan State Oil with 24 points, National Bank of Pakistan with 23 points and HUBC with 22 points.

However, sectors that weighed up the index were Commercial Banks with 22 points. Among the scrips, the most points added to the index was by HabibBank Limited which contributed 30 points followed by Meezan Bank Limited with 27 points, Lucky Cement Limited with 24 points, Muslim Commercial Bank with 14 points and Mari Petroleum Company Limited with 11 points.