Market watch: KSE-100 recovers to end marginally negative

Benchmark index finishes 0.20% lower to settle at 45,388

KARACHI: The KSE-100 recovered to end only marginally negative after a buying spree helped the index gain close to 360 points in the last hour.

Selling pressure was witnessed as soon as trading began with the benchmark hitting an intra-day low of 355.88 points to inch near the 45,100 mark. Late buying, however, helped the index recover but not enough to land in the green.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 90.86 points or 0.20% to settle at 45,387.77.



Elixir Securities' analyst Zain ul Abedin said equities closed marginally lower due to late buying in select scrips.

"Financials and fertilisers helped the market recover from intra-day lows. Despite a positive trigger in the shape of sharp overnight rise in global crude, E&Ps failed to lend support to the market in the morning as other sectors dragged benchmark KSE-100 Index down to a 15-day low.

"As expected, United Bank (-0.6%) traded lower on a knee-jerk reaction to poor quarterly earnings released on Wednesday (post-market close) and recovered in late-buying to fill most of the gap.

"Cements were top losers on the day as all key stocks closed in the red with Lucky Cement (-1.7%), Fauji Cement (-4.8%), DG Khan Cement (-2%) and Maple Leaf Cement (-3.3%) denting the KSE-100 index the most over unconfirmed rumours of price cut in the north (based on our channel-checks, there has been no price cut in the region)."

Abedin said the decline is expected to stall around 45,000/44,900, while on the upside 46,000/46,200 would remain an immediate resistance.



Overall, trading volumes increased to 183 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 156 million.

Shares of 382 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 100 stocks closed higher, 262 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.5 billion.

Engro Polymer and Chemicals was the volume leader with 15.2 million shares, losing Rs0.43 to close at Rs38.45. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 13.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.20 to close at Rs9.77 and Fauji Cement with 13.3 million shares, losing Rs1.19 to close at Rs28.18.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs36 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.