Market watch: Stocks dip for sixth successive session

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 223.36 points to settle at 45,073.52

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Stock Exchange extended its bear-run for the sixth consecutive session on Friday as the benchmark KSE-100 index dipped by another 223 points after a lack of encouraging news kept investors on the sidelines.

With a sombre mood, index heavyweights including fertiliser and cement sectors came under selling pressure and recorded losses. However, a jump in global crude oil prices sparked a rally in local oil sectors, which closed in the green.

There was no respite for the falling rupee as it depreciated marginally during the day, accelerating the stock market’s decline.

The KSE-100 index, after a brief jump at the beginning of the session, dived below the 45,000-point barrier but buying interest towards the end of first half of the session erased some of the losses.

The market traded in a narrow range in the second half and volatility increased the losses.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 223.36 points, or 0.49%, to settle at 45,073.52.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said that the downward swing continued as the market touched an intra-day low of 436 points.

Major laggards during the trading session were TRG Pakistan (-1.5%), MCB Bank (-1.7%), Cherat Cement (-4.6%), Indus Motor Company (-4.7%) and Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (-5.4%) that drove the index downward.

Cement and banking sectors came under selling pressure where Flying Cement (-5.7%), Cherat Cement (-4.6%), Maple Leaf Cement (-3%), Pioneer Cement (-2.1%), DG Khan Cement (-2%), MCB Bank (-1.7%), Meezan Bank (-0.9%), Habib Bank Limited (-0.5%) and United Bank Limited (-0.2%) lost ground.

In the exploration and production sector, Oil and Gas Development Company (+1%), Pakistan Petroleum (+0.4%) and Pakistan Oilfields (+0.5%) recovered from their recent lows as crude oil prices edged higher in the international market.

“Going forward, we recommend investors to remain cautious at current levels and wait for fresh buying,” the analyst said.

Overall trading volumes dropped to 369.5 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 443.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.8 billion.

Shares of 510 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 146 stocks closed higher, 351 declined and 13 remained unchanged.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 39.7 million shares, losing Rs0.08 to close at Rs2.87. It was followed by Unity Foods with 36.2 million shares, losing Rs1.05 to close at Rs31.91 and Byco Petroleum with 29.6 million shares, losing Rs0.26 to close at Rs7.56.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs28.3 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.