Market watch: Trading remains lacklustre as investors await interest rate decision

Benchmark index decreases 65.97 points to settle at 40,638.83

KARACHI: The stock market had a lacklustre performance on Thursday as trading volumes slumped and the index ended its second successive session in the red.

The KSE-100 index opened upwards but concerns over the upcoming monetary policy announcement and plunging crude oil prices in the global market dampened sentiments. Investors also awaited the MSCI rebalancing and remained largely on the sidelines.

"Traded volumes were below 100 million for the first time in the last 39 sessions. This was only the third time in five months where traded volumes did not cross the 100-million mark," stated Topline Securities.

Selling pressure was witnessed mainly in steel and exploration and production stocks while the refinery sector moved higher on the back of news that the Cabinet Committee on Energy had ordered immediate lifting of furnace oil from refineries.



At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 65.97 points or 0.16% to settle at 40,638.83.

Elixir Securities' analyst Murtaza Jafar said the KSE-100 index traded under pressure and managed to close marginally negative at 40,639.

"Energy stocks were seen trading under pressure as they continued to track the decline in crude oil prices, which were down another 1%. On the other hand, volumes remained shallow because investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the monetary policy announcement on Friday," Jafar said.

"Aggressive sell-off in the preceding session by the FIIs (foreign institutional investors) also dented investor sentiments in index names."



So far this month, FII selling reached $63 million, taking the 2018 to date net outflows to $473 million, he added.

"Going forward, we expect domestic investors to revisit their market views post-MSCI rebalancing sell-off … on Friday we expect an outflow of $50 million."

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 97.4 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 124.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.7 billion.

Shares of 345 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 157 stocks closed higher, 166 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 6.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.20 to close at Rs13.11. It was followed by Siddiqsons Tin Plate with 5.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.49 to close at Rs22.34 and Fauji Cement with 3.8 million shares, losing Rs0.49 to close at Rs23.90.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs504 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.