Market watch: Dull day as investors wait for SECP-KSE meeting outcome

Stocks ended flat on Monday as investors waited for the outcome of the SECP meeting with KSE board.

KARACHI: Stocks ended flat on Monday as investors waited for the outcome of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman’s meeting with the Karachi Stock Exchange board on the much-awaited margin trading system.

The meeting between SECP Chairman Mohammad Ali Ghulam Mohammad and the KSE board of directors, which started during midday, ended around 8pm, four and a half hours after the market closed.

The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index ended 0.1 per cent or 12.95 points higher at 12,427.36.

Trading stood at its lowest in the last eight weeks on lack of local interest and apparent low foreign inflows, said Elixir Securities equity dealer Nazim Abdul Muttalib.

Volumes fell to 109 million shares compared with Friday’s 132 million shares. Corporate results will create sector-specific interest in coming days, added Muttalib. State-run oil marketing giant Pakistan State Oil is scheduled to release quarterly earnings on Wednesday while MCB Bank will announce its results on Thursday. Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) closed flat near 33,000 shares, volumes that resemble the dreadful market freeze days.

Nimir Industries Chemical Limited, the volume leader with 30 million shares, traded on rumours of management buyout in association with ZM Associates, according to JS Global Capital dealer Ahmed Rauf. The scrip surged 41 per cent to close at Rs3.11.

It was followed by Lotte Pakistan PTA with 14.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.35 to close at Rs16.64 and Azgard Nine with 6.55 million shares, firming Rs0.35 to close at Rs11.6.

Shares of 393 companies were traded on the first trading session of the week. At the end of the day, 219 stocks closed higher, 160 declined and 14 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.59 billion.

World stocks near 29-month high

World stocks hovered near a 29-month high on further signs of global economic recovery. World equities, as measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index, advanced 0.2 per cent after gaining 2.2 per cent last week. The index is up 3.4 per cent so far this year while the MSCI emerging markets index is down two per cent.

Investors pulled out $7 billion from emerging market equity funds in the week ended February 4 – their biggest outflow in three years, according to data released by fund tracker EPFR Global. REUTERS

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2011.