Market watch: KSE-100 breaks three-day winning streak, ends in the red

Benchmark index falls 217.66 points to end at 45,418.70

KARACHI: The stock market underwent a volatile session and closed in the red on Wednesday amid pressure on blue-chip stocks on investor fears over foreign outflows and dismal economic data.

The KSE 100-share Index ended its positive streak of three sessions and opened negative. It started to ascend and hit an intra-day high of 45,808 points, but in the latter session, it succumbed to the pressure due to ongoing Supreme Court proceedings against the ruling Sharif family.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a fall of 217.66 points or 0.48%, standing at 45,418.70.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated that Pakistan equities closed negative after three consecutive positive sessions that pushed the benchmark index higher by over 4.2%.

The wider market gave up some of the recent gains and most index names traded volatile and experienced profit-booking as politics continued to attract the most attention.



"As the court hears the case against the prime minister and his family, we see earnings-related excitement and pay-outs to be overshadowed by political noise. However, there is a strong possibility that the Supreme Court may decide on the ongoing case in the days ahead - a move that may well bring an end to the stalemate," stated the report.

Engro Corp (-2.5%) dented the index the most after the company ended its board meeting with no corporate action while cement stocks that gained the most on Tuesday topped the list of profit-takers.

"We see a volatile market with very selective interest till the clarity on politics, however, the benchmark will find a base near current levels and trade in a range of 300 to 500 points in the days ahead," it said.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the market remained volatile throughout the day, hitting an intra-day high of +172 points and intra-day low of -339 points to close at 45,419, about 218 points below the previous day's close.

"Profit-booking was seen in the market where investors started reducing intra-day positions," said Mulla.



Major laggards were Engro, UBL (-1.42%), Lucky Cement (-1.43%) and Hubco (-1.50%) that cumulatively contributed -90 points to the benchmark index.

Allied Bank Limited (-1.37%), UBL, NBP (-1.56%) and HBL (-0.35%) from the commercial bank sector shed points due to profit-taking.

Sui Southern Gas Company (+2.08%) extended its previous day's gains following news regarding the completion of a gas pipeline from Shikarpur to Jacobabad in Sindh by the end of next month.

Pakistan State Oil (+0.57%) from the oil marketing sector gained likely on government's plan to introduce a higher grade of diesel under the deregulated regime, said the analyst.

"Moving forward, we recommend investors to stay cautious at current levels and any upside should be considered as an opportunity to reduce short-term positions or book profits," Mulla added.



Overall, trading volumes rose to 165 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 158 million.

Shares of 361 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 148 stocks closed higher, 200 declined while 13 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.9 billion.

TRG Pak was the volume leader with 14.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.13 to close at Rs37.92. It was followed by K-Electric with 11.6 million shares, losing Rs0.21 to close at Rs6.48 and Engro Polymer with 10.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.02 to close at Rs35.66.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs181 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.