PHOTO: AFP/FILE
KARACHI: Barring a few stocks, Pakistan equities continued to trade range-bound and closed marginally negative with the benchmark KSE-100 index staying within a narrow band of 200 points.
At close on Tuesday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a drop of 0.09% or 30.35 points to end at 33,729.62.
Elixir Securities, in its report, said the stocks saw a positive start and gains were led by index heavy oils as participants tracked overnight recovery in global crude.
“However, the wider market, barring oils, struggled to find a clear direction and skidded down during the day, pulling benchmark index in red by day’s close.
“Financials closed lower after quarterly earnings announced by MCB Bank (MCB PA -0.4%) came in below street-consensus, while Engro Foods (EFOODS PA +0.6%) closed in green after announcing earnings that beat estimates,” said Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza.
“Small and mid-cap plays continued to see most activity on retail interest. Meanwhile, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGP PA +4.7%) maintained its northbound ride after the company was allowed to record returns of their LNG business on Monday.
“We see current volatile trading pattern to continue in the near term, with investors closely monitoring institutional flows to set the market tone,” added Raza.
Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said volatility prevailed in the market as the index traded between an intraday high of +126.88 points and an intraday low of -30.35 points to finally close on a flattish note.
“MCB (-0.40%) lost ground to close in the red zone as the bank reported lower-than-expected 1Q2016 earnings of Rs5.41/share.”
“Moreover, Mari Petroleum (MARI +1.07%) gained on the back of 43% YoY growth in its bottom line during 3QFY16.”
“We expect the market to trade in the green zone in the coming sessions on the back of decreasing ambiguity on the political front,” added Ghous.
Trade volumes rose to 241 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 156 million shares.
Shares of 357 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 188 stocks closed higher, 138 declined while 31 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.8 billion.
TRG Pakistan Limited was the volume leader with 22.7 million shares, gaining Rs1.34 to finish at Rs35.47. It was followed by Dewan Motors with 17.2 million shares, gaining Rs1.00 to close at Rs11.16 and Pace Pakistan Limited with 17 million shares, gaining Rs0.33 to close at Rs6.58.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs228 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2016.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ