LAHORE - Pakistan Stock Exchange lost 390 points on Monday due to increasing political noise and pressure on news of share placement of largest E&P company at discount to market price.
As per news reports, Lahore High Court (LHC) has placed a temporary ban on anti-judiciary speeches by former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz. Further, news on $51m worth of shares placement of Pakistan’s largest E&P company OGDC by an institutional holder at a slight discount to market price led OGDC to close down 4.75 percent.
Trading volumes were down 24 percent while traded value declined by 27 percent during the day.
E&P sector led the index decline as the sector withheld 135 points from the index, led by pressure seen in OGDC. This was followed by cement sector that deducted 71 points from the index.
OGDC (-4.8 percent), FFC (-3.6 percent), LUCK (-1.5 percent), PPL (-1.1 percent) & PSO (-2.1 percent) withheld 237 points from the index whereas stocks including ENGRO (+1.1 percent), COLG (+4.6 percent), MARI (+1.2 percent), INDU (+1 percent) & SHFA (+2.2 percent) added 51 points to the index gain.
Attock Petroleum (APL) announced 3QFY18 financial results declaring earnings of Rs1.5b (EPS Rs13.6), up 21 percent YoY. Sales of the company improved by 30 percent YoY to Rs45b while gross profits were up 37 percent YoY to Rs2.5b. Attock Refinery (ATRL) announced 3QFY18 financial results reporting earnings of Rs19.6m (EPS Rs0.2) as against earnings of Rs524m (EPS Rs6.2) in the same period last year.
National Refinery (NRL) declared loss of Re0.7/share during 3QFY18 due to lower margins. Sales of the company improved by 18 percent YoY to Rs31.1b. However, gross profits were down by 68 percent due to losses on its refinery operations and lower margins on its lube business. Ghandhara Nissan (GHNL) has signed importer agreement with Renault Trucks SAS, France for heavy commercial vehicles. By virtue of that agreement, few units have been imported from France in CBU condition primarily for “test & trial purpose.