Market watch: Bourse moves in tandem with regional peers

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 84 points.

KARACHI:

The local bourse followed regional markets and remained lacklustre for most part of the day amid thin activity.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index declined 0.69 per cent or 84.25 points to end at 12,179.81 point level.

Shanghai’s main index slumped to a four-month low while shares in Hong Kong fell two per cent whereas India’s Sensex index dropped 0.6 per cent on Thursday.

Participants preferred to stay sidelined as they wait for the annual budget to be unveiled today (Friday), analysts said.

Trade volumes fell to 87 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 118 million shares.

Reports that Kunar Pasaki Deep and Tando Allahyar projects may be scrapped and cause the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) to incur heavy losses also pulled the index down, said JS Global Capital analyst Jawad Khan.

OGDC lost 1.2 per cent while shares in Pakistan Petroleum dipped 1.7 per cent despite expectation of upward revision in gas wellhead prices in the coming days, added Khan. OGDC contributed 31 points in the total fall of 84 points in the benchmark index

National Refinery Limited witnessed profit taking and fell 0.8 per cent to close at Rs379.66.

Banking stocks remained out of favour over expected jump in income tax on the sector in the upcoming budget

Nishat Mills was the volume leader with 5.53 million shares declining Rs0.25 to finish at Rs59.83. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 5.14 million shares gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs7.5 and KASB Bank with 4.04 million shares firming Rs0.24 to close at Rs1.68.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2011.