Market watch: Bears once again take charge as KSE-100 retreats

Benchmark index decreases 96.62 points to close at 39,199.68

KARACHI: After an exceptionally bullish performance in the preceding session, the stock market retreated into the red zone on Tuesday as investors once again resorted to profit-booking.

The KSE-100 index rallied and gained more than 500 points in the early hours of trading on the back of a decline in inflation for February and a significant contraction in trade deficit. Encouraged by improvements on the macroeconomic front, the investors bought stocks in the textile and oil sectors.

Unfortunately, the optimism did not last long and the index tumbled into the negative territory. The desire to consolidate gains and book profits fuelled bearish sentiment later in the day.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 96.62 points, or 0.25%, to settle at 39,199.68.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said bulls dominated trading in the early hours as the benchmark KSE-100 index touched an intra-day high of 570 points. "However, the index took a turn when investors started booking profit across the board, leading to an intra-day low of 239 points," he said.

Heavy volumes were registered in cement stocks which closed mostly in the green zone. Major movers of the sector were Maple Leaf Cement (+1.2%), DG Khan Cement (+2.2%), Cherat Cement (+7%), Kohat Cement (+3.1%) and Fauji Cement (+1.1%).

Mixed sentiment was noted in the banking sector where HBL (+0.1%), ABL (+1.1%) and Bank AL Habib (+0.5%) closed higher while MCB (-0.4%) and The Bank of Punjab (-2.7%) were in the red zone.

"Moving ahead, we recommend any major dips in the market should be taken as an opportunity to accumulate value stocks," Mulla added.

Overall, trading volumes increased to 225.3 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 215.3 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.8 billion.

Shares of 361 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 167 stocks closed higher, 176 declined and 18 remained unchanged.

Maple Leaf was the volume leader with 20.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.31 to close at Rs26.40. It was followed by Unity Foods with 20.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.41 to close at Rs14.14 and Hascol Petroleum with 19.2 million shares, gaining Rs1.35 to close at Rs20.73.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs765.93 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.