Market watch: Lack of interest causes drop of 38 points

Trading volumes fall to seven-month low.

KARACHI:

A negative close was witnessed at the Karachi bourse in the first trading session of the week on Monday amid limited institutional and foreign interest.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index fell 0.32 per cent or 38.35 points to end at 11,916.02 points.

Equities remained sluggish with significantly lower volumes, possibly due to lack of foreign activity on account of Easter holidays. Trade volumes fell to a seven-month low of 45.49 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 65.97 million shares.

Oil and gas giant Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), which steered the index to 11,900 points last week, traded in a narrow range as investors awaited the outcome of President Asif Ali Zardari’s meeting with energy stakeholders to resolve circular debt issues, said Elixir Securities analyst Nazim Abdul Muttalib.

Additionally, reports of expected increase in taxes on salaried individuals and the agricultural sector did not go down well with investors either, as the federal budget edges closer.

Power shortages in the industrial sector affected investor sentiment despite record earnings in oil and gas, banking and fertiliser sectors. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim’s phenomenal quarterly result, which clocked in earnings per share of Rs1.67 and a cash dividend of Rs1.25, failed to excite investors.

Moreover, investors remained cautious due to uncertain global capital markets and a bleak domestic economic outlook as a result of rising inflation in the country, said Arif Habib Investments Director Ahsan Mehanti.

Shares of 365 companies were traded on Monday. At the end of the day, 113 stocks closed higher, 162 declined and 90 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.52 billion.

Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 5.76 million shares, gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs15.68 amid expectations of handsome earnings for the January-March quarter. It was followed by Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim with 3.08 million shares, losing Rs0.33 to close at Rs41.46 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 2.47 million shares, gaining Rs0.32 to close at Rs7.1.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2011.