Market watch: Stocks manage to rise in lacklustre trading

Benchmark KSE-100 Index gains 39.45 points to settle at 40,049.81

KARACHI: A dull session prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday and the KSE-100 Index ended little changed in the absence of any triggers.

The index recorded sharp swings after the market's opening and then steadily dropped into the red zone, hitting an intra-day low of 39,931.52 points. Absence of any negative news helped the index stage a slight recovery as it managed to close its third consecutive session in the green.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index registered an increase of 39.45 points or 0.10% to settle at 40,049.81.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said another lacklustre session was witnessed at the bourse where the KSE-100 Index edged up 39 points at 40,050.

TRG Pakistan (-4.41%) was the major contributor to the market volume, followed by K-Electric (+0.32%) and Azgard Nine (+0.31%).

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (+3.48%) was positive on the back of news that the government had assured the gas utility that its return would not go down under the proposed reforms.



A rally was witnessed in the cement sector where Lucky Cement (+1.24%), DG Khan Cement (+1.85%) and Maple Leaf Cement (+1.25%) stood positive.

The banking space remained under pressure throughout the day as Habib Bank (-0.83%), MCB Bank (-1%) and Bank Alfalah (-0.89%) closed in the red.

The exploration and production sector drew interest of investors and moved higher. Pakistan Oilfields (+0.56%), Pakistan Petroleum (+1.22%) and Oil and Gas Development Company (+2.01%) gained value.

"Moving forward, we expect the market to depict a similar trend and recommend investors to see any upside as an opportunity to sell," the report added.

Topline Securities, in its report, stated that the KSE-100 ended the session little changed after a long weekend. Activity thinned from Thursday's MSCI rebalancing act, as volumes dried up 47% day-on-day, while traded value plunged 71%.



SNGP (+3.5%) bounced back with a bang after fund managers panic sold on Thursday given weak understanding and uncertainty arising from Ogra's long-term gas sector reforms. ATRL (+2.8%) also staged a recovery as anecdotal news regarding PSO's (+1.2%) off-take of fuel oil and resumption of Attock Gen did the rounds again.

Top index point contributors were OGDC (+2%), PPL (+1.2%), SNGP (+3.5%), LUCK (+1.2%) & UBL (+0.8%) adding 116 points while HUBC (-2.6%), HBL (-0.8%), ENGRO (-1.1%), MCB (-1%) & TRG (-4.4%), held back 108 points.

On the sector front; E&Ps contributed 75 points as oil prices are back near two-year highs as OPEC extended oil cuts thru 2018, OMCs added 36 points, cement 32 points, while banks shed 46 points, power 42 points, fertiliser 26 points and tech 16 points.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 96 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 180.7 million.

Shares of 347 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 167 stocks closed higher, 161 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.6 billion.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with 16.4 million shares, losing Rs1.71 to close at Rs37.06. It was followed by K-Electric with 6.03 million shares, gaining Rs0.02 to close at Rs6.34 and Azgard Nine with 5.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs16.03.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs111.6 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.