Stocks falter amid mounting security concerns

KARACHI: Amid surging terrorist attacks in Balochistan, killing dozens of innocent people, the stock market turned negative in a mixed session on Monday after hitting an intraday high above 79,000 level.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid consolidation near the close of earnings season and security concerns.
He added that the energy sector outperformed the index after strong financial results, a hefty payout by Hubco, and surging global crude oil prices.
He said uncertainty over IMF approval on taxes, IPPs’s dues restructuring and power subsidies also contributed to the bearish close.
Topline Securities Ltd said the equities kicked off the session on a bullish note as the benchmark KSE 100 index crossed the psychological barrier of 79,000 intraday. However, profit-taking by some investors compelled it to settle below this level in a relatively lacklustre trade.
However, the announcement of financial results by Hubco, Habib Bank and Shell Pakistan put some hype in the overall trading sentiments.
During the day, power, pharma and fertiliser sectors contributed positively as companies like Hubco, GlaxoSmithKline Paki­stan Ltd, Highnoon Laborato­ries Ltd, Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd and The Searle Company Ltd cumulatively added 336 points. Conversely, Habib Bank Ltd, United Bank and Abbott Labor­atories cumulatively lost 203 points due to some selling interest observed in them.
As a result, the KSE-100 index hit an intraday high of 79,160.40 and a low of 78,553.78. However, it closed with a loss of 230.37 points or 0.29pc to 78,571.06 day-on-day.
The trading volume plunged 24.92pc to 512.33 million shares. The traded value, however, inched up 3.99pc to Rs18.89bn on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Symmetry Group Ltd (59.69m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (50.61m shares), World­Call Telecom (24.44m shares), Hascol Petroleum (24.12m shares) and Hub Power Company (23.21m shares). The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hoechst Pakistan Ltd (Rs189.64), Hallmark Company Ltd (Rs51.70),
Haleon Pakistan Ltd (Rs39.10), Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs36.24) and High­noon Laboratories (Rs31.13).
The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan(Rs87.85), Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Ltd (Rs76.78), Service Industries Ltd (Rs65.05), Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs45.00) and Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs40.01).
Foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.20m.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2024