Market watch: Stocks undergo rollercoaster ride, index ends negative again

KSE-100 Index falls 148 points to close at 48,376

KARACHI: The index underwent a classic rollercoaster ride on Wednesday, opening positive on the back of the positive newsflow over new rules of in-house financing before concerns over the Panama case verdict erased all the intra-day gain.

At close on Wednesday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's KSE 100-share Index finished with a fall of 147.78 points or 0.3% to end at 48,375.63 - its fifth successive finish in the red. It hit an intra-day high of 48,909 before losing over 530 points after the first hour of trading.

According to Elixir Securities, equities closed lower in volatile trading as morning gains gave way to profit-taking in the wider market.

"Market open gap up as investors likely cheered Tuesday's positive developments on leverage product where the regulator approved recommendations of committee formed to review margin financing rules," said analyst Ali Raza.



"Moreover, modest gains in global crude overnight also helped the uptrend with index heavy Oils coming under investors radar.

"Benchmark KSE100 Index surged as much as approximately 0.8% in early hours but couldn't sustain and gradually erased all gains to slip in the red zone with anxiety remaining over domestic politics being the likely trigger for profit-taking in the wider market," he added.

Similarly, JS Research analyst Arhum Ghous said the market started with a positive trend due to Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan approving recommendations of the committee on review of financing by securities broker to clients.

However, the momentum was short lived as selling pressure was witnessed due to the ongoing high profile case result expected in the coming week.



"The index traded between an intraday high of +386 points and intraday low of -187 points," he said.

"E&P sector increased in value to close in the green zone as oil prices edged higher, hitting a one-week high. Banking sector (-0.7%) extended its previous day loss and closed in the red as the sector's heavy weights, MCB (-1.6%) and HBL (-1.7%), closed in the red again.

"Moreover, PSMC(-1.5%) in the auto sector lost value to close in the red as the Board of Investment (BoI) maintained its stance on the Auto Policy 2016," he added.

Overall, trading volumes rose to 272 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 218 million.



Shares of 396 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 163 stocks closed higher, 209 declined while 24 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.8 billion.

Azgard Nine was the volume leader with 27.9 million shares, losing Rs0.53 to close at Rs12.21. It was followed by the Bank of Punjab with 23.4 million shares, losing Rs0.65 to close at Rs16.05 and Power Cement Limited with 16.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.69 to close at Rs20.32.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs858 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.