Market watch: Index nosedives in final hour to close marginally positive

Benchmark KSE 100-share Index gains 40.55 points

KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 Index nosedived in the last hour to finish below the 50,000-point barrier yet again, losing close to 350 points as investors opted to book whatever intra-day profit there was to be had.

The index continued its trend of breaching the 50,000 level in intra-day trade, rising to a high of 50,322.55 mid-day. However, strong resistance, profit-booking and negative news flow over anti-dumping duty on steel imports took their toll.

At close on Monday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index finished with a rise of 0.08% or 40.55 points to end at 49,965.63.

Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said equities disappointed investors that had expectations of a new record close as late hour profit-taking wiped all the gains and sent benchmark KSE-100 index below 50K level.



“Start to the week was on a positive note as investors tracked higher regional markets and global crude, while KSE-100 index steadily climbed during the day to test high above 50,300 level,” said Raza.

“Notable blue chips to the likes of United Bank (UBL, +1.2%), Engro Corp (Engro, +0.9%), Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC, +1.2%) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL, +4.8%) led the gains.

“However, market took nosedived in the final one hour of trading with industrial and consumer sideboards mostly coming under selling pressure.

“Steels took the worst hit as all names either hit the lower price limit or ended deep in red on an unconfirmed report that auto makers have taken a stay order on anti-dumping duties imposed by the National Tariff Commission on Chinese imports of CRC and HDGC.”



JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said positivity prevailed for most part of the day, as the index gained to make an intraday high of +397 points but pressure was witnessed during the latter hours.

“OGDC (+1.15%), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (+1.58%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (+0.54%) in the exploration and production sector gained to close in the green zone,” said Haroon.

Recent stability in crude oil prices can be attributed to OPEC led production cuts, which has led to decline in global oil inventory levels.

Trading volumes rose to 362 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 354 million.



Shares of 434 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 177 stocks closed higher, 248 declined while 9 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs18.8 billion.

Dost Steel Limited was the volume leader with 32 million shares, losing Rs0.66 to close at Rs15.04. It was followed by Aisha Steel Mills with 29.5 million shares, losing Rs1.01 to close at Rs27.21 and K-Electric Limited with 20.8 million shares, losing 0.07 to close at Rs10.14.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs286 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.