Market watch: KSE-100 ends flat, but Friday likely to be a wild ride

Supreme Court set to announce verdict, investors likely to get sense of direction

KARACHI: While it may have been a dull session for the stock market on Thursday, participants would be more than eager to follow developments on Friday as the Supreme Court announced that it would deliver the long-awaited verdict in the Panama case.

The case is an investigation into allegations of money-laundering against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family, and the verdict is likely to give a sense of direction to investors with regards to political and economic stability.

On Thursday, however, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index, despite hitting a high of 46,025 points, failed to sustain the momentum and closed the day in the red zone at 45,905.76 points.

The index remained directionless throughout the day. In the morning session, it lost 149 points, but by mid-day, it was up by 110. In the end, it stood just 2.63 points, or 0.01%, below the previous day's close.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated equities closed little changed after another session of lacklustre and range-bound trading.

A general lack of interest was evident as turnover posted a gloomy figure with just under $40 million worth of shares changing hands on the KSE-100 index, down 26% compared to the previous day.



"The market started on a weaker note and afterwards witnessed range-bound trading with the benchmark index hopping in green and red multiple times till the end of the session," stated the report.

United Bank (UBL, -0.6%) closed marginally lower after the bank announced earnings in line with consensus.

Mari Petroleum (Mari, +1%) hit its upper price limit intra-day on announcement of stellar results before succumbing to profit-taking. In another notice, the company announced acquisition of working interests in various development and exploratory blocks.

"We see lacklustre trading with investors mainly tracking flows while domestic politics will continue to remain a drag until the court announces the Panama verdict," the report added.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the Pakistan Stock Exchange recorded another lacklustre session.

UBL (-0.6%) announced its 1H2017 financial results, declaring earnings of Rs10.81 per share and cash dividend of Rs3 per share.

Mari (+1%) on the other hand gained points as it declared better-than-expected annual earnings of Rs82.87 per share and annual dividend of Rs2.22 per share.



Indus Motor (+2%) from the auto sector gained to close in the green zone as it announced price increase in the range of Rs105,000 to Rs160,000 for various vehicle models.

"The market is expected to remain under pressure (on Friday) due to the last day of the rollover week," said Mulla.

Also, volumes were lower as investors remained vigilant about the impact of the Supreme Court's decision.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 158 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 175 million.

Shares of 365 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 127 stocks closed higher, 219 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.3 billion.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 26.9 million shares, losing Rs0.21 to close at Rs11.14. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 17.9 million shares, losing Rs0.63 to close at Rs13.73 and Sui Southern Gas Company with 8.7 million shares, losing Rs0.86 to close at Rs42.77.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs264 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.