PTCL Stocks Slump 4%, Telecard 11% After Withdrawal of ICH

Stock values of telecom companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange have drifted lower after the news of withdrawal of International Clearing House surfaced early morning today.

Both Telecard and PTCL topped the stock market for volume of trading with record decrement in face values of shares.

14 million shares of Telecard were traded during first 3 hours of trading today, while its face value decreased 11 percent to reach Rs. 4.31 per share, down from Rs. 4.90 when market had opened in the morning.

Some 9.5 million shares of PTCL were traded since morning with its share price reaching Rs. 28.02 per share, down from Rs. 29.07 per share in the morning.

Check below the stock trend for PTCL for today:

Zeeshan Afzal of Topline Securities opined that current stock performance of PTCL is above expectation and the news of withdrawal of ICH hasn’t impacted the stocks as he had anticipated. Zeeshan believes that there is another major slump expected when PTCL will actually exit ICH.

Market sentiments suggest that PTCL – along with other LDI operators – will try at least once to form a independent cartel to fix international incoming calling rates at around 3 to 4 cents. However, CCP and other authority may block such attempts by operators that will consequently hit PTCL stocks notably.

Market experts predicts that PTCL stocks will continue to perform for another few weeks before they may reach pre-ICH levels.

Moreover, removal of APC is another dent that PTCL will have to bear for its revenues and ultimately the stock prices.

Stock experts say that future of Telecard is uncertain and it is likely to lose stock value with every passing minute.

Since Telenor has exited ICH and it is still proactively advocating against ICH, any chances for formation of unofficial cartel of LDI operators are extremely low. Not to mention, Zong is also against any such flooring of international incoming call charges.