Market watch: Bears dominate as index retreats further into red

Benchmark index decreases 380.60 points or 1.10% to settle at 34,190.02

KARACHI: The market reverted to its bearish ways as it lost another 381 points to finish the second successive session in the red.

The KSE-100 index opened on a negative note and continued to lose as interest remained dull. Investors remained on the sidelines, opting to offload stocks amid lack of positive triggers.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 380.60 points, or 1.10%, to settle at 34,190.02.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said, bears ruled the local bourse where the KSE-100 index made an intra-day low of 508 points before closing at 34,190 (down 381 points).

Volumes remained subdued as only 51 million shares changed hands during the day.

“The cement sector received a serious setback on the strike of dealers ending up in the red region where MLCF (-2.5%), LUCK (-1.5%), DGKC (-3.6%) and PIOC (-1.8%) were among the major losers in the sector.”

Financial sector also followed the market trend with most shares closing in the red region. HBL (-1.7%), BAHL (-0.9%), UBL (-0.3%), MCB (-1.8%) and BAFL (-1.1%) were the major movers of the mentioned sector.

“Going forward, we expect market to exhibit volatility in the coming sessions due to overall ambiguities in the political environment and recommend investors to remain cautious,” Mulla added.

According to AHL Research, the market opened on a negative note and continued the down trend.

Fertiliser, O&GMCs, cement, banks and E&P sector came down during the trading session. Chemical sector led the volumes with 9.3 million shares, followed by cement with 7.4 million shares.

Sectors contributing to the performance include banks (down 90 points), fertiliser (67 points), E&P (63 points), cement (37 points) and power (36 points).



Stocks that contributed positively include INDU (up 9 points), NESTLE (5 points), MEBL (5 points), NATF (4 points) and LOTCHEM (3 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (down 32 points), POL (29 points), MCB (28 points), ENGRO (22 points) and FFC (20 points).

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 51.2 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 111.9 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.86 billion.

Shares of 296 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 73 stocks closed higher, 212 declined and 11 remained unchanged.

Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 6.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.32 to close at Rs16.93. It was followed by Dolmen City with 5.9 million shares, losing Rs0.02 to close at Rs10 and Maple Leaf Cement with 3.3 million shares, losing Rs0.61 to close at Rs23.76.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs14.9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2019.

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