Market watch: Stock market wipes off almost all of last week’s gains

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 290.69 points

KARACHI: The stock market lost almost all of the gains made last week. After a persistent bearish trend, last week saw a glimmer of optimism as the market gained nearly 340 points. However, Monday alone took down the big chunk of those gains.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.88% or 290.69 points to end at 32,757.82 points.

Nervous political situation, depressing crude oil prices and bearish foreign investors contributed to the decline as nearly three-quarters of all the companies traded in the KSE closed in the red.



According to JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous, the bourse remained under pressure as investors preferred to sell off their holdings following the weakness in regional markets.

“OGDC (-2.85%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (-3.85%) were the major index movers. They lost value as oil approached $35.41 per barrel.

“Buying interest was witnessed in the cement sector towards the end of the session as Maple Leaf, DG Khan Cement and Kohat Cement closed up 1%, 0.55% and 0.02% respectively.”

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated equities tumbled below 33,000 points, mirroring lower regional markets while noise emanating from domestic politics also dented sentiments that led the participants to sell across the board.

“Index-heavy exploration and production stocks slid further tracking global crude that continued its slide into the seventh day. OGDC and Pakistan Petroleum Limited both closed negative and were reportedly sold by foreigners.

“On the flip side, Pakistan Oilfields (+1.21%) that was trading near its lower price limit for most of the day recovered nearly 6% on reported local buying. Moreover, Mari Petroleum (+4.69%) hit the upper price limit in the last minutes as investors see significant upside going forward.”



Trade volumes fell to 145 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 189 million.

Shares of 323 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 71 stocks closed higher, 236 declined while 16 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.3 billion.

Sui Southern Gas Company was the volume leader with 22.3 million shares losing Rs2.11 to finish at Rs42.44. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 14.1 million shares losing Rs0.26 to close at Rs9.47 and TRG Pakistan with 9.9 million shares losing Rs1.50 to close at Rs36.04.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs579 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2015.

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