market watch: Index tumbles again amid selective participation

Benchmark KSE 100-share Index falls 169.06 points

KARACHI: A positive start to the day was followed by selective and thin participation as the benchmark-100 index finished below the 39,500 level.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE 100-share Index fell 0.43% or 169.06 points to end at 39,446.70

Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said Pakistan equities closed 0.43% lower after morning gains that pushed index to test 39,800 proved short-lived amid thin and selective participation.



“The day kicked off on a high note as index heavy exploration and production made a comeback following overnight recovery in international crude with index heavy Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC,+0.5%), Pakistan Oilfields (POL, +2.1%) and Pakistan Petroleum (PPL +0.9%) all opening gap up and leading early gains.

“However, the wider market could not keep up and benchmark index chipped away all intra-day gains to enter in negative zone by day’s close,” added Raza.

“Cements contributed most to declines with reports of institutional selling in Lucky Cements (LUCK, -1.4%), DG Khan Cement (DGKC, -2.0%) and Maple Leaf (MLCF,-1.8%), while next in line were select financials that also dented KSE100 index; Habib Bank (HBL,-0.6%) and MCB Bank (MCB,-0.6%).



JS Global’s analyst Nabeel Haroon said positivity prevailed during the early hours as the index rallied to make an intraday high of 208 points on the back of recovering crude oil prices in the commodity market.

“The market failed to sustain its level as selling pressure was seen during the latter hours as the index fell.

“Hi Tech Lubricants (+2.2%) extended its previous day gain on the back of the news disseminated in the market that lube oil blending plant of Hi Tech Blending (Pvt) Ltd, wholly owned subsidiary of Hi Tech Lubricants Limited, has started its commercial production,” said Haroon.

Trade volumes fell to 205 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 228 million.

Shares of 393 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 152 stocks closed higher, 215 declined while 26 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.3 billion.

Sui Northern Gas was the volume leader with 18.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.80 to finish at Rs46.01. It was followed by Dewan Cement with 14.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.12 to close at Rs17.13 and Agritech Limited with 13.2 million shares, losing Rs0.26 to close at Rs13.54.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs31 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2016.

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