Market watch: Stock market struggles to find balance, stop slide

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 334.09 points

KARACHI: The stock market continued on Monday its downward journey for the fifth straight trading session led by foreign selling and lower-than-expected corporate results.

Global recessionary trends, gloom in regional markets and the contagious drop in China might be more to blame than any weakness in fundamentals of the companies.



The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index fell 1.08% or 334.09 points to end at 30,677.68.

According to Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani, equity trading kicked off the week on a dull and negative note with turnover tumbling 20% against the previous week’s average.

“Stocks drifted after opening sideways as thin volumes and reported foreign selling in index names kept value-hunters at bay.

“One possible reason for the anxiety and uneasiness, primarily among locals, is the recent news about investigations against large business groups while foreign selling and volatility in regional markets is already denting confidence.”

Among laggards, Lucky Cement (-3.9%) hit the benchmark index the most despite announcing earnings in line with consensus and other stocks in the sector followed suit.

“Oil stocks generated interest, however, they traded directionless for most of the day while small caps led the volumes and closed mostly lower on reported retail selling,” Bilwani said.

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said the KSE-100 index continued its downward trend as the market after hitting an intraday high of 51.07 points lost value to close in the red zone for the fifth consecutive session.

“NBP (+1.95%) continued its upward trajectory on the back of better-than-expected results on Friday last week in which it announced a lucrative dividend of Rs7.5 per share.

“Lucky Cement lost value as the company announced results for the first half of the current fiscal year, which was slightly below market expectation. The company posted unconsolidated earnings per share of Rs19.34.”

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI, +4.36%) gained on the news that the company had decided to further invest Rs240 million in NutriCO Pakistan.



Trade volumes rose to 133 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 110 million.

Shares of 338 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 62 stocks closed higher, 257 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.4 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 11.7 million shares losing Rs1.23 to finish at Rs23.50. It was followed by NIB Bank with 11.7 million shares losing Rs0.20 to close at Rs1.52 and Silkbank with 8.7 million shares losing Rs0.12 to close at Rs1.51.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs265 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd,  2016.

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