Market Watch: Thin participation as index dips below 49,500

Benchmark KSE 100-share Index falls 0.38% or 188.92 points

KARACHI: The KSE-100 Index suffered through a bad case of Monday blues as listless trading meant investors opted to book whatever gains there were to be had, taking stocks down after a positive open.

At close on Monday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index finished with a fall of 188.92 points or 0.38% to end at 49,434.89.

Market watch: Index gains in final hour to end marginally positive

Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said equities finished lower as selling in late hours pulled benchmark KSE-100 Index below 49,500 level.

“After a listless open, the wider market traded dull and in a narrow range for most part of the day as both institutional and retail investors kept participation to minimum,” said Raza.

“Despite positive news flow over local liquidity given PSX payment and changes in regulations for local AMCs, the wider market failed to show any signs of excitement with very selective participation in index names.

“As market struggles to find a clear direction on thin volumes, few select stocks namely Lucky Cement (LUCK,+1.2%), Hub Power (HUBC,+1%) and MCB Bank (MCB,+0.9%) came to the rescue and added ~65 points to limit downside; albeit on thin volumes.

“Meanwhile, Engro Fertilizers (EFERT,+0.1%), in a material notice after market hours notified of IFC converting its debt into company's shares that according to our analyst will have an insignificant dilution impact.”

Market watch: KSE-100 sees marginal correction

JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said the market witnessed positive momentum for most part of the day as the index gained to make an intraday high of +217 points but came under selling pressure at the eleventh hour.

“Mixed sentiments were witnessed in the banking sector as index heavy weights MCB (+0.93) and UBL (+0.14%) gained to close in the green zone, whereas on the flipside HBL (-0.42%) and NBP (-0.89%) weighed down on the index.

“Pakistan Petroleum Limited (-0.18%) lost value to close in the red zone as crude oil prices edged lower on concerns of rising US stockpiles, said Haroon.

“ICI (+1.91%) garnered investor interest on the back of the news that Punjab government is on the verge of striking a deal with Monsanto, a top manufacturer of genetically modified (GM) seeds, for acquisition of advanced cotton seed technology and technical expertise for five years,” said Haroon.

Market watch: KSE-100 sees marginal correction

Trading volumes fell to 302 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 392 million.

Shares of 400 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 157 stocks closed higher, 229 declined while 14 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.6 billion.

Silk Bank Limited was the volume leader with 59.2 million shares, losing Rs0.01 to close at Rs1.87. It was followed Azgard Nine with 24.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.55 to close at Rs11.45 and Lotte Chemical with 23.2 million shares, losing Rs0.44 to close at Rs11.82.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs536 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.