Market watch:Thin participation keeps KSE-100 under pressure

Benchmark index loses 373.52 points to end at 47,577.06

KARACHI: The KSE-100 Index tumbled once again, losing 0.78% Friday to close near the 47,500 level amid political uncertainty, thin participation and concerns over geopolitics after the US strike in Afghanistan.

Carrying over the negative sentiment from Thursday, stocks remained under pressure with the added factor of international markets being absent due to Easter holidays.



At close on Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange's (PSX) benchmark index recorded a fall of 373.52 points or 0.78% to end at 47,577.06.

Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said equities extended losses on Friday with activity remaining on the lower side.

“As expected, activity recorded in the wider market was lower due to limited institutional participation primarily from foreign investors as most markets around the world were closed for holidays,” said Raza.

“Moreover, concerns on domestic politics due to impending Panama verdict and on geopolitics due to the latest strike by United States on terrorists hideouts in the neighboring country, Afghanistan, kept most participants on the sidelines.



“Most sectors including financials finished lower, however, major dent came from oils where Mari Petroleum (-3.9%) witnessed the most decline, due to government's recent divestment decision, followed by Oil & Gas Development (-2.4%) on reported institutional selling,” said Raza.

The highlight was Ghandhara Nissan (+4.9%) as it closed at the upper price limit after company announced a cooperation agreement with a Chinese company for distribution of their LCVs in the country, said Raza.

JS Global analyst Nabeel Haroon said the market continued its losing momentum amid limited participation.

“Limited participation was witnessed in the market as skeptical investors preferred to remain on sidelines on the last trading day of the week owing to ongoing political uncertainty,” said Haroon.

“Volumes stood low at 126 million shares versus 233 million shares in previous trading session.

“Banking sector led the decline in the market as the sector lost value to close (-0.7%) lower. UBL (-1.47%) and MCB (-0.51%) were major index movers from the aforementioned sector,” said Haroon.

“Apart from the banking sector, major contribution to the decline in index came from Oil and Gas Development Company (-2.42%), Hubco (-1.37%) and Fauji Fertilizer (-1.79%).”



Overall, trading volumes rose to 233 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 217.8 million.

Shares of 375 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 117 stocks closed higher, 244 declined while 14 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs125 billion.

Sui South Gas was the volume leader with 11.7 million shares, gaining Rs1.13 to close at Rs42.19. It was followed by Aisha Steel Mill with 7.8 million shares, losing Rs0.29 to close at Rs24.15 and K-Electric Limited with 6.1 million shares, losing Rs0.09 to close at Rs7.99.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs67.4 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.