July 24, 2022 (MLN): Rising political noise, historic PKR devaluation and economic woes took a toll on the market this week, as the benchmark KSE-100 index lost nearly 1,998 points or down by 4.75% to settle at the 40,077 level.
During the week, Pak Rupee continued to plunge, reaching an all-time low of Rs228.37, following the uncertain economic situation and political melancholy on the back of delay in the IMF tranche, and melting foreign exchange reserves amid repayment of external debt and finance import bill.
Besides PKR devaluation, the unabated selling pressure was triggered by PTI’s victory in the Punjab by-election, where the party won 15 out of 20 seats. Further uncertainty was caused by Fitch which downgraded Pakistan’s outlook to negative due to the debt repayments concerns, a significant deterioration in Pakistan’s external liquidity position and financing conditions after the IMF program.
In USD terms, the index plummeted by a significant 12% this week.
Overall, out of the total 5 sessions, the bourse witnessed 3 sessions in favour of bears while 2 sessions were in favour of bulls. The KSE-100 index oscillated between high and low of 42,075 and 39,541 levels, respectively, before settling the week at 40,077 levels.
.jpeg)
From the sector-specific lens, Banks, Fertilizer, Cement, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies, and Power Generation & Distribution Companies kept the index in red territory as they took away 500, 279, 251, 187, and 110 points from the index respectively.
Contrary to that, Sugar & Allied Industries, Close-Ended Mutual Funds, and Real Estate Investment Trust during the week collectively added just 6 points to the bourse.
Scrip-wise, HBL, ENGRO, LUCK, EPCL, and HUBC were the worst-performing stocks during the week as they snatched 152, 92, 92, 91, and 90 points from the index respectively. Whereas SML, HGFA, HINOON, MUREB, and DCR collectively added 9 points to the index.
Meanwhile, the KSE All Share market cap decreased by Rs290.6 billion or 4.13% over the week, being recorded at Rs6.75trillion as compared to a market cap of Rs7tr recorded last week.
Flow-wise, foreigners emerged as net buyers during the week, purchasing stocks worth $3.43mn compared to a net buy of $1.4mn last week. Sector-wise, the major buying was observed in Technology ($1.98mn), and all other sectors ($0.75mn).
On the local side, the majority of the selling was reported by Mutual Funds and Insurance Companies amounting to $7.8mn and $2.2mn, respectively. However, Individuals and Banks stood on the other side with net buying of $5mn and $1.5mn respectively.
Copyright Mettis Link News
34219
