Market watch: Index continues to shed points, ends close to 31,000

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 270.67 points.

KARACHI: Pakistan equities continued to tumble as bears continued to be dominant, taking the benchmark-100 index to the 31,000 level after a fourth-successive finish in the red.

Gas reallocation resulted in a bit of friction in fertiliser stocks, while reported foreign selling led to a dip in the oil sector.

At close on Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index fell 0.87% or 270.67 points to end at 31,011.77.



Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said stocks opened negative and traded lower throughout the day, while activity in the wider market remained sub-par as only $46 million worth of shares exchanged hands on benchmark index.

“Biggest dent came from index heavy oils that were down on reported foreign selling in Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC, -2.39%) and Pakistan Petroleum (PPL, -2.07%).

“Moreover, Engro Fertilizer (EFERT, -3.73%) which closed at lower price limit on Thursday over its stake sale news, extended losses in today’s session after the government body on economic affairs approved curtailment of 60mmcfd gas to EFERT and its subsequent diversion to Fauji Fertilizer (FFC, +0.86%) and Fatima Fertilizer (+1.12%).

“Highlight of the day was National Bank of Pakistan (NBP, +4.98%) that closed at the upper price limit after announcing earnings and pay-out that beat market estimates.”

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said the index failed to break its negative steak on the last trading day of the week, as the index closed in the red zone for the fourth consecutive session.

“In the fertiliser sector FFC (+0.86%) and FATIMA (+1.12%) gained and EFERT (-3.73%) lost value, as the ECC approved reallocation of Mari shallow gas to its original beneficiaries (FFC, FATIMA and EFERT) from February 22 onwards. Before the approval, Mari shallow gas was being solely provided to EFERT.

“NBP closed on its upper circuit as the bank announced its 2015 year end result which was better than market expectation. In its result, the company declared earnings per share (EPS) of Rs9.03 and dividends per share (DPS) of Rs7.5.



“In the pharmaceutical sector SEARL (+1.33%) and its subsidiary IBL Health (+2.82%) closed in the green zone as the company announced its 1HFY16 results in which it posted a phenomenal growth of 74% in its half-year earnings.

“Selling pressure was seen in both the gas utilities, as SNGP (-3.93%) and SSGC (-4.50%) lost value to close in the red zone.

“Scrips in the exploration and production (E&P) sector including PPL (-2.07%), POL (-1.17%) and OGDC (-2.39%) lost value, as the crude oil prices corrected after taking a surge over the last couple of days.”

Trade volumes fell to 110 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 130 million shares.

Shares of 319 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 77 stocks closed higher, 223 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.8 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 9.6 million shares, losing Rs1.30 to finish at Rs24.73. It was followed by Pak Elektron (R) with 5.3 million shares, losing Rs1.00 to close at Rs17.12 and National Bank with 4.6 million shares gaining Rs2.73 to close at Rs57.51.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs328 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th,  2016.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.