KARACHI: In a topsy-turvy session, the Paki­stan Stock Exchange (PSX) snapped its five-day winning streak on political and security concerns despite initially hitting a new peak on Wednesday.

The benchmark KSE 100 index surged to an intraday record high of 96,711.33 after rallying 854.67 points. However, the investors resorted to profit-taking mid-session, wiping out 544.7 points to 95,311.97. Finally, it settled at 95,546.46 with a loss of 310.21 points on a robust trading volume of over one billion shares.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bearish on political uncertainty and concerns for security unrest in the country.

He added that rupee instability, foreign outflows, and pending IMF board decision over the government’s alternate plans to tackle tax shortfalls and bridge a $2.5bn gap in external financing contributed to depressed bearish inclination at the PSX.

Topline Securities Ltd said the market experienced notable volatility as investors remained cautious ahead of the political protest scheduled for Nov 24. Additionally, heavier-than-usual foreign corporate selling added to the pressure.

Negative contributions from Systems Ltd, Habib Bank Ltd, Lucky Cement, MCB Bank, and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd dragged the index down by 348 points. However, Fauji Fertiliser, Colgate-Palmolive, and Kot Addu Power Company partially offset these losses, adding 354 points to the index.

The trading volume sur­ged 37pc to 1.13 billion sha­res, and its value rose 24.85pc to Rs37.48 day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-El­ectric (174.38m shares), Hascol Petroleum (63­.97m shares), Kohi­noor Spin­ning Mills Ltd (62.99m shares), Aisha Steel (48.­13m shares) and Waves Homes Appli­ances (43.5­0m shares).

The shares registering the most significant incr­eases in their prices in absolute terms were Col­gate Pakistan (Rs101.90), Nestle Pakistan (Rs9­1.17), Rafhan Maize (Rs88.96), Arch­roma Pakistan (Rs3­5.04) and Sapp­hire Fibres (Rs26.94).

The companies that suffered significant losses in their share prices in absolute terms were Pakistan Serv­ices (Rs44.72), Ser­vice Industries (Rs39.48), Khyber Textile (Rs35.57), Hoe­chst Pakistan (Rs3­0.00) and Abbott Labor­atories (Rs22.64).

Foreigners sold out shares worth $4.35m, while mutual funds also turned net sellers offloading shares worth $1.27m.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024