Market watch: Bourse starts week on subdued note

Trade volumes nosedive 74% to dismal 32.82m shares.

KARACHI:

The stock market declined on Monday due to worsening law and order situation and trading activity remained sluggish as investors wanted to play safe.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.66 per cent or 82.28 points to end at 12,394.49 points.

Oil and banking, the two major sectors that supported the stock market last week, bore the brunt of the decline as Pakistan State Oil fell two per cent amid continued foreign selling and weak sentiment owing to low payout expectation in the upcoming result announcement, Elixir Securities equity dealer Nazim Abdul Muttalib said.

Banking giant MCB Bank also fell 2.6 per cent as investors are getting rid of the stock keeping in view the fact that the stock has been underperforming for the last few months, added Muttalib.

Trade volumes nosedived 74 per cent to a dismal 32.82 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 126.25 million shares.

The cement industry also took a hit as the top two KSE-100 losers were Gharibwal Cement Limited and Lafarge Pakistan Cement Limited. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (FFBL) and Fauji Fertiliser Company also fell on news regarding curtailment of gas supply to FFBL.

Second tier stocks dominated trade as Fatima Fertiliser Company closed the day as volume leader with 2.38 million shares, falling Rs0.21 to finish at Rs16.74. Pakistan Reinsurance finished second with 1.7 million shares and stood at Rs15.58 after climbing Rs0.12. Third on the volumes chart was NIB Bank right shares with a trade volume of 1.64 million shares, closing unchanged at Re0.01.

Shares of 328 companies were traded on Monday. At the end of the day, 84 stocks closed higher, 141 declined and 103 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.39 billion.

Foreign institutional investors were gross buyers of shares worth Rs58.7 million and gross sellers of shares worth Rs170.45 million during the trade session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th,  2011.