Market watch: KSE-100 flat amid lack of positive triggers

Benchmark index inches up 21.50 points to settle at 41,388.88

KARACHI: The stock market had a lacklustre session on Friday as it closed flat with a meagre gain of 22 points because of a lack of positive triggers.

Investors continued to wait for clarity on the Chinese bailout package and negative sentiments of the preceding day were also reflected in Friday's trading.

The day kicked off on a negative note, resulting in the index shedding over 100 points in early hours. However, it made a comeback by the close of first half.

In the second half, the index rose rapidly and crossed the 41,500-point mark multiple times before weak investor sentiments dragged it down. Amid the uncertainty, all index-heavy sectors closed in the black except for the exploration and production (E&P) sector.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded an increase of 21.50 points or 0.05% to settle at 41,388.88.



Arif Habib Limited in its report stated that the KSE-100 index opened 35 points down with negligible volumes. "Selling pressure was evident from activity in steel, cement, financial and E&P sectors. The E&P sector bore the brunt of declining crude oil prices," he said.

"Among financial stocks, UBL, in particular, was the source of investor ire as it faced the risk of being excluded from (MSCI) rebalancing and so did Lucky Cement." Both the stocks showed significant flows, apparently from foreign investors.

Major volumes were recorded in chemical companies and banks. The Bank of Punjab attracted the most volumes, but ended in the red.

Siddiqsons Tin Plate Limited also saw high trading volumes perhaps due to talk of Korean joint ventures. However, by the end of the session, it proved to be fake news, as confirmed by the company through an announcement, after which the stock price came down and closed lower.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Dawood Hercules (+28 points), Pakistan State Oil (+20 points) and Engro (+18 points).

Stocks that contributed negatively included Pakistan Petroleum (-56 points), Habib Bank (-40 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company (-23 points).



Overall, trading volumes decreased to 219.6 million shares compared with Thursday's tally of 224.7 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.9 billion.

Shares of 369 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 217 stocks closed higher, 126 declined and 26 remained unchanged.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 25.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.01 to close at Rs13.48. It was followed by Siddiqsons Tin Plate with 19.6 million shares, losing Rs0.17 to close at Rs18.94 and K-Electric with 16.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.14 to close at Rs6.08.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs854.3 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.