Market watch: Despite positive triggers, KSE-100 inches down

Benchmark index decreases 17.25 points to settle at 40,514.17

KARACHI: The KSE-100 index inched down on Thursday and closed with a loss of 17 points as investors resorted to profit-booking despite encouraging trade figures.

Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed a 14% contraction in trade deficit on a monthly basis.

In addition to that, the Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) yields fell once again in Wednesday's auction, giving investor sentiment a boost, which was reflected in early trading.

In the morning, trading began on an upbeat note, however, selling pressure emerged shortly as investors began offloading stocks and the index dipped by midday. A buying spree towards the end of the session helped wipe off the losses and the market ended on a flat note.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 17.25 points, or 0.04%, to settle at 40,514.17.

Arif Habib Limited, in its report, stated that trading in the market was no different from what had been going on since the beginning of the week. The index oscillated between -359 points and +238 points during Thursday's session and closed at -17 points.

"Selling pressure remained there, which had primarily been due to profit-taking by investors," it said. "Decline in PIB yields failed to prop up the index."

None of the listed sectors remained unscathed, however, selling pressure was mainly concentrated in the cement sector.

Going with the recent trend, the vansapati sector led the trading volumes with 37.7 million shares changing hands, followed by the technology sector (27.2 million) and cement firms (23.1 million).

Among individual stocks, Unity Foods led the table with trading in 37.7 million shares, followed by TRG Pakistan (12.9 million) and Fauji Foods (10.9 million), the report added.

In its report, Topline Securities said the decline in PIB yields kept the sentiment strong. "Inherent strength and confidence of investors was displayed as the index recovered from an intra-day low of 40,172 points."

Investor participation in terms of volumes was down 26% day-on-day at 227 million shares. Similarly, the traded value dropped 22% day-on-day to Rs8.4 billion, the report concluded.

Overall, trading volumes decreased to 227 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 305 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.4 billion.

Shares of 366 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 125 stocks closed higher, 225 declined and 16 remained unchanged.

Unity Foods was the volume leader with 37.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.24 to close at Rs14.9. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 12.9 million shares, losing Rs0.99 to close at Rs24.01 and Fauji Foods with 11 million shares, losing Rs0.21 to close at Rs15.56.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs302.5 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.