Pakistan stocks witness lacklustre activity amid profit-taking phase

KARACHI: A range-bound session was witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday as the benchmark KSE-100 Index oscillated between an intraday high of 544 points and a low of 421 points before settling at 119,649, down 0.26 per cent.

The subdued activity was attributed to a lack of fresh triggers and investors’ preference to stay on the sidelines ahead of the weekend, after the index recently closed at an all-time high, Topline Securities stated.

“Today’s activity at the KSE-100 appears to reflect a profit-taking phase, following a strong weekly gain of 11.9 per cent driven by optimism over a potential ceasefire with India and the disbursement of USD 1 billion from the IMF,” said Muhammad Awais Ashraf, Director Research at AKD Securities, speaking to Hum News English.

“We anticipate the market to maintain its upward momentum, supported by ongoing monetary easing and potential foreign inflows driven by the possible inclusion of Pakistan equities in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index,” he added.

The marginal decline of 0.26 per cent reflected investor caution ahead of the upcoming federal budget.

The session remained volatile with limited participation, while selective profit-taking was observed amid uncertainty over upcoming fiscal measures, according to Ismail Iqbal Securities.

Fertiliser, cement, and oil and gas exploration sectors were the major laggards, collectively knocking off 515 points from the index.

Also read: Pakistan IT exports in April up by 2% YoY to record $317m

Top positive contributors included ENGROH, SYS, BAHL, UBL and BAFL, which together added 271 points to the index. In contrast, FFC, LUCK, MARI, OGDC, PSO and EFERT were among the major drags, erasing 476 points collectively.

In terms of traded value, HUBC (Rs1.24 billion), PSO (Rs1.21 billion), NML (Rs820 million), PAEL (Rs817 million) and UBL (Rs756 million) led the charts.

Investor interest emerged in the engineering sector during the second half of the session, after news that the Prime Minister had directed the abolition of Additional Customs Duty (ACD)—currently ranging from 5 to 90 per cent—over the next four to five years. Additionally, a proposal to cap Customs Duty (CD) at a maximum of 15 per cent was also approved, Topline Securities noted. At present, CD can exceed 100 per cent on certain items.

Total traded volume and value stood at 570 million shares and PKR 29 billion, respectively.