Market watch: KSE-100’s losing run extends to 6th session

Benchmark index decreases 0.70% to close at 44,066.96 points

KARACHI: The KSE-100 finished near the 44,000 level on Tuesday, falling 312 points to mark the sixth successive session of decline.

After opening positive, selling pressure overpowered any buying momentum as the index plunged as much as 450 points in intra-day trading before attractive valuations ignited some interest. Selling was mainly witnessed in banks, fertiliser, OMCs, and cement sectors.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 311.56 points or 0.70% to settle at 44,066.96.

JS Securities’ analyst Maaz Mulla said heavyweight stocks dragged the KSE-100 index down including MCB (-2.26%), FFC (-2.19%), SSGC (-5%), HBL (-0.84%) and ENGRO (-0.96%).



“Volumes remained lackluster as 154 million shares in the stock market changed hands. Bank of Punjab (-1.59%) from the banking sector led the market volumes with 11 million shares.

“On the economic front, the federal government announced to issue floating rate Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) to improve the debt profile and meet rising financial needs.

“SNGP (-3.55%), from the gas utilities, closed lower than previous day’s close on the back of the news that the K-P government rejected the proposal of SNGPL to increase gas prices for financial year 2018-19 by 87 percent.

“Selling pressure was witnessed in the cement sector where DGKC (-2.70%), MLCF (-1.40%), CHCC (-1.58%) and FCCL (-1.03%) lost value to close in the red zone.

“E&P sector closed negative as crude oil prices edged lower retreating from three-and-a-half-year high, where OGDC (-0.47%) and PPL (-0.26%) were the major laggards of the sector.

“Moving forward, we expect the market to exhibit volatility in the coming sessions due to overall political ambiguities and lack of positive triggers in the market,” he added.



Overall, shares of 364 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 86 stocks closed higher, 259 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.7 billion.

Trading volumes rose to 153.5 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 130.5 million.

Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 11.2 million shares, losing Rs0.19 to close at Rs11.75. It was followed by Engro Polymers and Chemicals with 8.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.49 to close at Rs36.73 and Unity Foods with 7.9 million shares, losing Rs1.56 to close at Rs30.21.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs47.1 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.