Market watch: KSE-100 records sharp swings, closes in the green

Benchmark index increases 23.70 points and settles at 50,144

KARACHI: In contrast to Monday's hefty rise, the stock market recorded a volatile session on Tuesday, with the index swinging between the red and green zones, before settling slightly above previous day's close.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index showed an increase of 23.70 points or 0.05% to close at 50,144.63.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated Pakistan equities closed little changed after a dull trading session where fewer than 90 million shares changed hands on the benchmark KSE-100 index.

"The wider market failed to carry the momentum after Monday's surge and traded volatile and range bound with the benchmark index hopping between green and red zones multiple times during the day," said analyst Ali Raza.



"Overnight losses in global crude market resulted in oil stocks trading and closing lower while the fear of disruption in LNG supply from Qatar also impacted Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (-2.9%) and Engro Corp (-0.5%) negatively," he said.

However, reported institutional flows in financial and cement stocks helped notable blue chips to close higher, which included Habib Bank (+1.5%), Lucky Cement (+1.4%), DG Khan Cement (+1.6%) and Maple Leaf Cement (+3.1%).

Moreover, Kohat Cement (+1.6%) came in the limelight after the company announced that it would increase its existing capacity by 83% by way of 2.3 million tons per annum expansion, said Raza.

"We see the market to be largely driven by institutional flows with the benchmark KSE-100 index likely consolidating gains near current levels in the near term," he added.



JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said the market witnessed a volatile session with the KSE-100 index hitting an intra-day high of +190 points and intra-day low of -201 points to finally close 24 points up at 50,144.

"International oil prices slipped as Saudi Arabia and other Arab states cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. This was reflected in oil stocks among which OGDC and Pakistan Oilfields closed 1.43% and 1.62% down respectively," said Ghous.

On the other hand, the cement sector maintained its positive momentum on the back of rumours of increase in product prices. Lucky Cement (+1.43%), DG Khan Cement (+1.57%), Maple Leaf Cement (+3.11%) and Fauji Cement (+1.75%) made positive contributions to the index.

"We expect the market to maintain its volatility in coming days," the analyst added.



Overall, trading volumes fell to 231 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 255 million.

Shares of 365 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 149 stocks closed higher and 197 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.5 billion.

Engro Polymer was the volume leader with 15.99 million shares, gaining Rs1.64 to close at Rs34.56. It was followed by Dost Steels with 15.96 million shares, losing Rs0.07 to close at Rs14.02 and Power Cement (right shares) with 14.7 million shares, losing Rs0.10 to close at Rs2.22.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs405 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.