Market Watch: Stock market flat as investors remain cautious

KSE’s benchmark 100-share index drops 10 points.


Our Correspondent March 21, 2012

KARACHI: The stock market closed flat on Wednesday as investors remained cautious amid Supreme Court hearing of the contempt of court case against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.08 per cent or 10.21 points to end at the 13,293.12 point level.

Investors booked profits and remained concerned about political and judicial uncertainties, said JS Global Capital analyst Mujtaba Barakzai

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan told the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court that Gilani cannot write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari – as ordered earlier – because the president enjoys immunity.

Trade volumes gained to 266 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 247.81 million shares.

However, investors did show interest in Lucky Cement following news reports that the cement manufacturer may sell electricity to Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

Packages Limited closed at its lower limit of the after announcing lower than expected result. The company’s losses jumped more than four times to Rs1.57 billion in 2011 against Rs332 million in the preceding year.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs68 million worth of shares, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.59 billion. Jahangir Siddiqui and Company was the volume leader with 30.21 million shares gaining Rs0.62 to finish at Rs18.58. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 27.39 million shares firming Rs0.45 to close at Rs4.08 and JS Bank with 13.96 million shares increasing Rs0.16 to close at Rs6.94.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2012.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ