The stock market closed down marginally on Friday as investors preferred to book profits ahead of the monetary policy announcement today (Saturday).
The Karachi Stock Exchange 100-share index ended 0.1 per cent or 12.12 points lower at the 11,552.13-point level.
All seven analysts in a poll conducted by The Express Tribune forecast that the central bank will leave the discount rate unchanged at 14 per cent in the monetary policy announcement.
Any surprise hike will surely dent sentiment on Monday, said Elixir Securities equity dealer Faisal Bilwani. Next week will be mostly guided by flows from foreign investors, added Bilwani.
Foreigners were reported buyers in Nestle, which saw good volumes off market, said the dealer.
Blue-chips Pakistan Oilfields and National Bank of Pakistan both closed negative on profit-taking, while most volumes were recorded in small and mid-caps. Trading volume rose slightly but still stood at a low level of 66.39 million shares against the preceding day’s tally of 62.66 million shares.
Lotte Pakistan PTA remained the volume leader, with approximately 12.2 million shares changing hands on expectations of strong primary margins and better results in January to March 2011, according to an analyst. The scrip gained Rs0.05 to close at Rs15.98.
Nishat Chunian was second on the volumes chart with 4.26 million shares on the back of increase in international cotton prices. The stock gained Rs0.61 to end at Rs28.51.
Denim-maker Azgard Nine was third with 3.98 million shares, losing Rs0.12 to close at Rs8.68.
Shares of 352 companies were traded on the final trading session of the week. At the end of the day, 131 stocks closed higher, 126 declined and 95 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.03 billion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2011.
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