KSE-100 index continues to take a battering, but late buying limits losses

• Benchmark KSE-100 index settles at 45,597.24 points on Wednesday.
• The benchmark KSE-100 nosedived over 1,000 points in intra-day trading, however, recouped some losses.
• Tariq predicts that the stock market will now move toward stabilisation and the index will sustain above the 45,000-point mark.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) faced another round of battering on Wednesday as the benchmark KSE-100 nosedived over 1,000 points in intra-day trading, however, recouped some of the losses by the end of the session. 

The benchmark KSE-100 index closed its fourth successive session in the red with a decrease of 411.61 points or 0.89%, to settle at 45,597.24 points.

Speaking to Geo.tv, Pakistan-Kuwait Investment Company Head of Research Samiullah Tariq said the market “over-reacted because of the monetary policy tightening.”

The analyst was of the view that investors panicked as they assumed that the central bank will continue to tighten its monetary policy going forward.

The market plunged from the start and the index continued its journey towards the south, falling below the 45,000-point mark. There was no respite till mid-day for the anxious investors who offloaded stocks amid mounting economic and geopolitical tensions. However, late buying recouped some of the losses recorded during the day.

Tariq predicted that the stock market will now move toward stabilisation and the benchmark KSE-100 index will sustain above the 45,000-point mark.

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the market continued trending downward today and lost a total of 1,221 points during the session.

“Leveraged positions of retail investors played havoc on market today, which received margin calls after continuous declines witnessed in the index for the past couple of sessions,” it said.

The brokerage house added that negative news flow relating to MCB employees having implications in money laundering cases also dented the sentiment.

Technology and refinery sectors got hurt the most, however, selling pressure was also observed in cement, steel, fertiliser, banks and exploration and production sectors.

Meanwhile, late-session positivity came on the back of an optimistic growth outlook for Pakistan by the Asia Development Bank and progress regarding the meeting with the International Monetary Fund programme which is scheduled to be held on October 4.

Volumes increased further from 325.8 million shares to 583.7 million shares (+79% day-on-day). The average traded value also increased by 41% to reach $103.1 million against $73.1 million.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 91.1 million shares, losing Rs0.13 to close at Rs2.98. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 36.2 million shares, losing Rs1.61 to close at Rs22.53, and Hum Network Limited with 34.1 million shares, losing Rs0.44 to close at Rs6.25.

During the session, shares of 525 listed companies were traded. At the end of the session, 99 stocks closed in the green, 413 in the red, and 13 remained unchanged.

Sectors contributing to the performance included technology (-77 points), exploration and production (-40 points), textile (-38 points), fertiliser (-35 points) and refinery (-33 points).

Individually, major gainers were Meezan Bank (+26 points), MCB (+11 points), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+9 points), Fauji Cement Company (+9 points) and International Industries (+8 points).

Meanwhile, major losers were TRG Pakistan (-38 points), Systems Limited (-38 points), HBL (-25 points), UBL (-20 points) and Cherat Cement (-16 points).