Best Stocks to Buy – Stocks slump, volumes soar amid profit-taking spree

KARACHI: Stocks were dragged down by profit-taking in energy and financials on Thursday; however building on Wednesday’s momentum, trading volume hit another historic high of 1.124 billion shares, dealers said.

Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) KSE-100 shares index shed 1.26 percent or 588.77 points to close at 46,055.52 points. Volumes increased to 1.124 billion shares from 1.01 billion a day earlier. KSE-30 shares index lost 1.3 percent or 252.3 points to close at 19,222.01 points.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include World Telecom, Telecard Limited, K-Electric, Maple Leaf Cement and Fauji Cement, which formed 52 percent of total volumes.

World Telecom posted a turnover of 353.56 million shares and lost 10.1 percent after a fake PSX notice saying that the scrip has been placed in the defaulters’ list went viral on the social media. As the PSX issued a clarification after the closing of the trading hours, the damage was done already.

As many as 415 scrips were active of which 92 advanced, 313 declined, and 10 remained unchanged.

Topline Securities in a note said the market opened on a positive note; however profit-taking surfaced in the second half of the day.

The brokerage said cements sector remained in the limelight where DGKC, KOHC, and LUCK were the major gainers, it said in its report.

On the other hand TRG dented the investor sentiments by closing 4.96 percent down, while financials and exploration and production (E&P) sector were the major laggards, the brokerage added.

Raheel Ashraf at JS Global Capital said despite seeing gains in the cement sector, selling pressure was witnessed in several sectors.

“Looking at Thursday’s trend we believe profit-booking could continue and recommend investors to buy on further dip,” Ashraf said.

Cement sector performed well earlier in the session with Pioneer Cement and D.G Khan Cement hitting upper circuit.

“Market made yet another historic high volume today; however, the index also slid by 684 points after posting a gain of 291 points,” a commentary issued by Arif Habib Limited noted.

“Banks, E&P, and oil and gas marketing companies saw aggressive selling, which brought the index down.

While the index regressed, cement sector also saw selling pressure with significant decline,” Arif Habib Limited report said.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed bearish amid record trades on government’s decisions regarding surge in power tariff to resolve circular debt crises ahead of approval of the IMF program.

Slump in global crude oil prices, uncertainty in global equities and investor concerns over foreign outflows weighed on the index, Mehanti said.

Rafhan Maize up Rs299 to close at Rs10,499/share, and AKD Capital up Rs34.89 to close at Rs500.20/share were the top gainers of the day, while Nestle Pakistan, down Rs80 to close at Rs6,220/share, and Pakistan Tobacco, down Rs59 to end at Rs1,540/share suffered highest losses.

World Telecom led volumes with 353.56 million shares and lost 17 paisas to close at Rs1.51/share. It was followed by Telecard Limited that posted 97.49 million shares, shedding 81 paisas to close at Rs6.08/share.

K-Electric was the third highest turnover maker with 47.09 million shares, while it gave up 21 paisas to finish at Rs4.33/share.