Market watch: Volatility continues, activity remains dull

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 15.21 points

KARACHI: Equities closed little changed on Wednesday in a volatile trading session as the benchmark KSE-100 index settled near 33,000 points.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index recorded a fall of 0.05% or 15.21 points to end at 32,968.26.



Elixir Securities, in its report, said the wider market witnessed a dull activity with investors staying on the sidelines because of being wary of ongoing investigations against a broker. Moreover, support in shape of institutional flows also remained limited.

“Release of monthly sales numbers led to oil marketing shares going up with Hascol Petroleum (+1.96%), Shell Pakistan (+1.67%) and PSO (+0.68%) all closing in the green,” said the report.

Meanwhile, news of Punjab government’s aggressive medicine procurement plan sparked interest in most pharma stocks that ended the day near their upper price limits.

“We see the market to trade volatile and range-bound while investors will remain sensitive to the ongoing broker inquiry and data on foreigners trading,” it added.

JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said profit-taking was recorded in Pak Elektron (-0.29%) after two consecutive days of positive close. “Investor interest was seen in the pharmaceutical sector as Feroz (+4.9%), Glaxo (+4.1%) and Searl (+4.8%) closed near their upper circuits.”

Oil and Gas Development Company (-0.95%) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (-0.16%) closed in the red zone as international crude prices tanked on account of oil inventories piling up in the US.

“Fauji Fertilizer Company (-0.52%) lost value as urea prices declined in international markets, implying a lower gap between local and international prices,” said Ghous.



Trade volumes fell to 101 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 142 million.

Shares of 320 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 123 stocks closed higher, 176 declined while 21 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.9 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 7.4 million shares gaining Rs0.06 to finish at Rs34.65. It was followed by Pak Elektron Limited with 6.8 million shares losing Rs0.20 to close at Rs68.12 and Gharibwal Cement with 6.3 million shares gaining Rs2.29 to close at Rs48.27.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs163 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2016.

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