KSE-100 ends 0.29% down as intra-day gains wiped off

Benchmark index falls 139.38 points to end at 48,088.37

KARACHI: The index succumbed to profit-taking in the latter half of the session, closing negative on Tuesday to end near the 48,000-point level.

The KSE-100 opened positive and continued to gain until midday, before all intra-day gains were wiped off as uncertainty over the Panama case verdict kept investors at bay.

At close, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark KSE 100-share Index ended with a fall of 139.38 points or 0.29% to finish at 48,088.37.

According to Elixir Securities, Pakistan equities witnessed yet another lacklustre session and benchmark KSE-100 Index traded in a narrow range for most part of the day before slipping in the red in the final hour of trading.



"Retail participation remained lower as most likely preferred to wait out the impending verdict on Panama case while institutional investors primarily foreigners were reportedly active in index heavy financials and select index names," said analyst Ali Raza.

"On the leader board, Adamjee Insurance (AICL PA +3.6%) contributed most to gains ahead of its earnings announcement, while major dent came from trio of Habib Bank (HBL PA -0.9%), United Bank (UBL PA -1.7%) and Fauji Fertilizers (FFC PA -1.7%) as they all witnessed profit-taking and cumulatively contributed nearly two-thirds negative points to KSE-100 Index," said Raza.

"Meanwhile, retail favourite Byco Petroleum (BYCO PA +5%) hit the upper price limit and also topped the volumes chart after the company notified exchange of receiving the court approval on planned merger of their businesses."



"[We] see lacklustre and range-bound trading to continue in near term with participants closely monitoring situation on domestic political front and institutional flows to get a sense of market direction," he added.

JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said the local bourse remained largely in the 'green' zone during the day as the KSE-100 index gained to make an intraday high of +138 points; but came under pressure towards the penultimate hour, closing down 139 points at 48,088 levels.

"Banking sector weighed down on the index as heavy weights HBL (-0.91%), UBL (-1.68%) and MCB (-0.55%) came under pressure during latter half of the day to close in red territory."

"Profit-taking was witnessed in INDU (-0.69%) and HCAR (-0.14%) in automobile sector as investors booked profits from Monday's gains," said Haroon.



"Investor interest in BYCO was on the back of material information that Sindh High Court has approved merger/amalgamation of Byco Oil Pakistan Limited and Byco Terminals Pakistan Limited with and into Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited.

"Moving forward, we expect the market to remain volatile and recommend investors to employ a cautious approach," he added.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 135 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 159.9 million.

Shares of 370 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 131 stocks closed higher, 220 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.9 billion.



Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 14.7 million shares, gaining Rs1.09 to close at Rs22.99. It was followed by the Azgard Nine with 7.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs13.04 and Bank of Punjab with 5.8 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs13.75.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs251 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.