KARACHI - Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a lacklustre session on Monday and the 100-share index, after making an intra-day high of 337 points and intra-day low of 122 points, closed at 42,744 points after shedding 6 points.
Top 5 index point decliners were NBP (down 5%), UBL (1.5%), MCB (0.9%), SNGP (1.6%) & CHCC (3.7%), shedding 97 points, while FFC (up 5%), EFERT (3.9%), DAWH (2%), OGDC (0.6%) & BAFL (2.3%) added 122 points.
On the sector front, fertilizer added 108 points due to rising international prices which are up another 16%/$40 WoW to $290/ton (Middle East Urea). On the flip side, banks shed 69 points (NBP 29 points, UBL 28 points & MCB 15 points). OMCs were down 20 points while cements withheld 17 points.
Foreigners were net buyers of $4.7m. Buying was concentrated in banks ($4.1m) while foreigners opted to book gains in fertilizer stocks, offloading $1.2m despite higher international prices which were notified last Friday, observed analyst at Topline Securities.
NML (down 0.99%) from the textile sector announced its FY17 result, where the company posted consolidated EPS of Rs17.55 and also announced final cash dividend of Rs5/share. ASL (up 0.63%) from the steel sector also announced its FY17 result where the company posted an EPS of Rs1.31. NBP (down 5%) from the banking sector closed at its lower circuit on Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss appeal filed by NBP, maintaining judgment of the Lahore High Court to release pensionary benefits to the bank’s pensioners, said analyst at JS Global.
On the other hand, a rally was witnessed in the fertilizer sector where EFERT (up 3.90%), FFC (4.97%) and FFBL (2.66%) closed in the green zone as international urea prices jumped by 9%, touching USD 275/ton.
Political uncertainty amid the uncertain outcome of NAB references against the former prime minister and finance minister played a catalyst role in the negative close, stated analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
Market volumes also remained low as total volume for the all-share index touched 126m shares, 4.4% down from the last trading day. Traded value stood at Rs7b/$84m.