Bearish activity continued in scrips across the board on Thursday on the back of limited institutional and foreign interest before the corporate earnings season got into full swing.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index fell 0.7 per cent or 82.18 points to end at 11,652.54 points.
Investors were concerned over power and gas shortages, which had hampered industrial output in recent days, said Arif Habib Investments Director Ahsan Mehanti.
Additionally, concerns over ties with the US dampened investor confidence after a drone attack in Pakistan. Rising security concerns in Karachi also affected investor sentiments despite interest in cement and fertiliser stocks amid rising local commodity prices, added Mehanti.
Trade volumes improved significantly after a consistent decline in recent days, almost doubling to 89.03 million shares compared with Wednesday’s 29-week low of 45.82 million shares.
News that the Federal Board of Revenue was seeking investor details from different brokerage houses for computation of capital gains tax after poor response from retail investors in filing tax returns did not go down well with investors, said JS Global Capital analyst Murtaza Jafar.
A rise in cement prices by Rs10 per bag led to comparatively higher trading in cement stocks. News regarding restart of cement exports to India after approval of the BIS certificate kept the sector in the limelight, said Topline Securities analyst Samar Iqbal.
Additionally, foreigners were said to be sellers of energy shares, while locals were active investors in cement stocks.
Shares of 344 companies were traded on Thursday. At the end of the day, 69 stocks closed higher, 196 declined and 79 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.8 billion.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 12.45 million shares, losing Rs0.62 to close at Rs15.1. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui Co with 7.48 million shares, losing Rs0.88 to close at Rs6.67 and Azgard Nine with 7.16 million shares, losing Rs1 to close at Rs6.76.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2011.
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