Market watch: KSE-100 extends losses in range-bound trading

Benchmark index decreases 36.10 points to settle at 33,761.41

KARACHI: The KSE-100 index extended losses on Wednesday in a range-bound trading session and shed 36 points over weak corporate earnings and rising political noise.

A host of financial results were announced during the session but they could not reverse direction of the market. Many companies posted lower-than-expected earnings, giving the bourse a negative trigger.

Speculation over the Azadi march, organised by the opposition parties, continued to weigh on investor sentiment throughout the trading session, which resulted in a significantly lower participation in trading.

Earlier, trading began with a short-lived spike following which the market oscillated between red and green zones. Later in the day, the index turned largely range bound and closed in the negative zone as investors chose to remain on the sidelines.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 36.10 points, or 0.11%, to settle at 33,761.41.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that the KSE-100 index opened on a positive note but followed the trend witnessed a day ago.

"The index traded in a narrow band of +154 points and -127 points, ending the session down by 36 points," it said. "A host of quarterly results were announced but they failed to have a positive impact on stock prices in a major way."

Hascol finally announced the issuance of 400% right shares, which sparked some jitters in the market with its stock price closing near previous day's close.

Cement and steel sectors again experienced selling pressure, although some of the key stocks like Mughal Steel, Amreli Steels, DG Khan Cement and Maple Leaf Cement were positive.

The technology sector again realised the highest trading volume with 17.2 million shares, followed by the engineering sector (16.8 million) and cement sector (15.9 million), the report added.

JS Global analyst Danish Ladhani said after a range-bound session, the KSE-100 index closed with a loss of just 36 points at 33,761.

"The market is expected to remain choppy as the march by opposition parties is approaching the capital city of Islamabad, demanding Prime Minister Imran Khan's resignation," he said.

In the cement sector, Lucky Cement (-1.5%) and Cherat Cement (+2.2%) reported 1QFY20 consolidated earnings per share (EPS) of Rs3.93 against Rs9.14 for the same period of last year and 1QFY20 loss per share (LPS) of Rs1.92 against EPS of Rs2.44 in the corresponding period of last year with no cash payout, respectively.

Moreover, Fatima Fertiliser (+0.4%) remained in the positive zone as the company reported 9MCY19 consolidated EPS of Rs4.39 against Rs4.03 last year.

In the exploration and production sector, Pakistan Petroleum reported 1QFY20 EPS of Rs6.33 whereas Pakistan State Oil (+5%) announced 1QFY20 EPS of Rs8.94 against Rs10.69 last year with no cash payout.

Furthermore, Amreli Steels (+4.8%) announced 1QFY20 LPS of Rs0.27 against EPS of Rs1.38 last year.

Hubco (-0.5%) and Pakistan Elektron (-2.4%) reported 1QFY20 consolidated EPS of Rs4.29 against Rs2.47 last year and 9MCY19 consolidated EPS of Rs1.68 against Rs2.61 last year with no cash payout respectively, the analyst added.

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 130 million shares compared with Tuesday's tally of 225.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5 billion.

Shares of 345 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 142 stocks closed higher, 178 declined and 25 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 13.3 million shares, losing Rs0.02 to close at Rs1.2. It was followed by Unity Foods XD with 7.5 million shares, losing Rs0.23 to close at Rs10.33 and Maple Leaf Cement XD with 7.1 million shares, gaining Rs0.59 to close at Rs17.95.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs47.88 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.