Market watch: KSE-100 ends week in the red amid range-bound trading

Benchmark index decreases 81.77 points to settle at 42,842.18

KARACHI: The KSE-100 index failed on Friday to sustain the moderate gains made on the previous day and closed lower in range bound trading.
The day kicked off on a positive note when the index climbed in the initial hour, but the gains proved short-lived and uncertainty soon enveloped the market.
In the meantime, the index oscillated between green and red zones. For a brief period, it crossed 43,100 points, but it was followed by a correction.
Almost all major stocks bore the impact of uncertainty including automobile, cement and financial. The performance of exploration and production stocks remained satisfactory despite the overall volatility as majority of names were in the black.
At close, the KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 81.77 points or 0.19% to settle at 42,842.18.


JS Global’s Danish Ladhani said the bourse was negative after another range-bound session as the index hit intra-day low and high of -125 points and +191 points respectively.
“The market traded sideways in initial hours of the session, but later traded weak to close 82 points negative,” said Ladhani. “It will likely remain similar to the outgoing week until any further developments.”
On the economic front, Pakistan plans to borrow more than $4 billion from the Saudi-backed Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as part of attempts to shore up dangerously low foreign currency reserves.
Meanwhile, the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose $19 million to $10.369 billion in the week ended on August 3.
Engro Fertilizer (-1.45%) reported 1H2018 results with consolidated earnings per share of Rs5.35, up 74% year-on-year, with interim dividend of Rs4 per share.
Ladhani said mixed sentiments were seen in the cement sector where Lucky Cement (+1.40%) and Pioneer Cement (+0.07%) closed positive whereas DG Khan Cement (-1.90%) and Fauji Cement (-2.04%) were in the red.
Moreover, mixed sentiments were also noted in the financial sector where Habib Bank (-0.40%) and MCB Bank (-0.43%) fell whereas United Bank (+1.33%) and Habib Metropolitan Bank (+0.24%) remained positive.
Major heavyweights namely Habib Bank (-0.40%), Engro (-0.42%), MCB Bank (-0.43%), Pakistan Oilfields (-0.57%) and Hubco (-1.43%) cumulatively erased 55 points from the index.
Traded volumes surged 21% to 250 million shares while traded value increased to $99 million. Top volume stocks were Pak Elektron (-5%), Engro Polymer and Chemicals (+1.79%), Lotte Chemical (+2.19%), Unity Foods (+4.65%) and K-Electric (+1.83%).
“[We] expect the market to remain range bound until the new government is formed,” he added.


Overall, trading volumes increased to 250.1 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 206.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.3 billion.
Shares of 384 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 163 stocks closed higher, 201 declined while 20 remained unchanged.
Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 17.7 million shares, losing Rs2.1 to close at Rs39.99. It was followed by Engro Polymer with 13.4 million shares, gaining Rs0.61 to close at Rs34.77 and Lotte Chemical with 12.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.31 to close at Rs14.46.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs717.8 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.