Closing Bell: To be or not to be, that’s not the question

April 30, 2019 (MLN): The constant oscillation of stock market between bulls and bears, is neither a surprise nor a primary matter of concern anymore. The primary concern, in fact, should be endorsing measures to resuscitate the stock market towards consistency again.

In a rather ill-fated yet foreseeable turn of events, the KSE-100 index lost 241 points to close at 36,784-points mark. The trading floor mirrored the persona of a chameleon on the back of uncertainty hovering around IMF’s visit. The possibility of proposals put forth by IMF being implemented kept market participants at check.

Unity Foods Limited announced its financial result for 9MFY19, wherein it posted net profits of Rs 186.7 million, which is 6x greater than the figures reported in same period last year. As a result of this remarkable performance, UNITY emerged as the volume leader in today’s session, having traded around 12.3 million out of the total 82 million scrips traded on the benchmark index.

On an idiosyncratic front, Hascol Petroleum Limited denied its involvement in an alleged tax fraud of Rs. 3.9 billion, reported by a known local news website agency, saying that the news was spread to malign the company’s name and its growth. The price of HASCOL’s scrips in today’s session closed at Rs. 96.78, up by 1.03% from last session’s closing.

E&P sector emerged as the top loser during the session, as it snatched around 74 points from the index. Fertilizer sector took the second lead as it lost approximately 34 points by the day end. Furthermore, the scrips that significantly influenced the benchmark index’s performance included HUBC (-2.12%), PPL (-1.42%), OGDC (-1.17%), PSO (-2.62%) and ENGRO (-0.85%).

Swamped within a range of 329 points, the index touched an intraday high of 37,037 points and an intraday low of 36,708 points. Moreover, the share prices of 22 companies reported an increase, 66 companies reported a decline whereas 1 company reported no change.

On the other hand, the broader KSE All Share index ended the session on a neutral note and closed in consolidation, as it lost only 62 points. It traded nearly 110 million shares, having a value of Rs. 4.6 billion.

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