Market watch: Stocks cave in to foreign selling pressure, end down

Benchmark index decreases 76.26 points to close at 42,546.48

KARACHI: The positive rally of the past two sessions came to an end on Wednesday as the KSE-100 Index succumbed to selling pressure and ended marginally negative.

Stocks shot up as soon as trading began, but soon after selling pressure pulled the index down by 285 points, which hit an intra-day low of 42,337.51. The decline was mainly caused by growing concerns over the economic situation as investors stayed cautious.

The political turmoil in Italy, where the president had called snap elections, also impacted the Pakistan Stock Exchange as foreigners once again offloaded stocks. However, buying was witnessed in the latter half after the steel sector drew investors’ interest that helped the index recover slightly, though it still ended the day in the red.



At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 76.26 points or 0.18% to settle at 42,546.48.

Elixir Securities’ analyst Ali Raza said equities closed flat in volatile trading after reported foreign selling halted positive momentum from the previous day.

“The day kicked off on a positive note, however, selling in index-heavy financial and select stocks dragged down the benchmark KSE-100 Index by 285 points by noon. The final 90 minutes, however, saw the market action reversing as local investors cherry-picked stocks at attractive prices,” Raza said.

The financial sector was the worst performer with Habib Bank (-2.7%) and MCB Bank (-1.9%) cumulatively denting the index by over 100 points. Cement stocks also closed mostly lower with Lucky Cement (-1.7%) chipping away 25 points from the benchmark index.

Meanwhile, stocks of steel and exploration and production companies stood strong and supported the market.

“We continue to see a choppy market in the near term as continuous selling by foreigners is keeping any meaningful recovery in check,” the analyst added.



Overall, shares of 338 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 167 stocks closed higher, 147 declined while 24 remained unchanged.

Trading volumes increased to 133.7 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 120.3 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.4 billion.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 11.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.15 to close at Rs12.07. It was followed by Faysal Bank with 9.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.21 to close at Rs24.80 and Pak Elektron with 9.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.41 to close at Rs38.08.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs536.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.