Weekly Review: Stock market gains 82 points in dull sessions

Investors stay away as activity drops 73% to 44 million shares.

KARACHI:

Investors seemed to still be in the holiday spirit as the shortened two-day week witnessed low interest, activity and news flow.

The most happening event during the week was the technical problem that suspended trading 21 minutes before close on Friday.

The last update on Karachi Stock Exchange’s website on Friday before suspension showed that the benchmark 100-share index rose 50 points, however, final market report sent by the bourse officials around midnight after the malfunction was fixed shows that the market rose 70 points to close at 12,038.93.

The 20-point jump between suspension and closing is not a surprising phenomenon, a market expert said, adding that it is possible that some terminals were disconnected after the rest and their trading was added in the final figures. Hence, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index rose 0.69 per cent or 82 points during the week.

The bourse on Thursday remained under pressure owing to a sell-off in international markets but managed to gain 11 points while Friday’s session was witnessed selective buying amid low activity.

MCB Bank remained in the limelight as rumours of Franklin Templeton negotiating a block in the company resulted in locals accumulating the stock as well. The scrip rose 4.3% to Rs162.49 as  The Nishat Group bank was the second on the volumes list with 3.13 million shares on Friday.

Moreover, daily jobbers seemed to skipped the two days and opted for a longer time away from the market as average trade volumes plummeted 73% to 44 million shares compared with the preceding week’s tally of 166 million shares. Volumes will continue to remain dull in the upcoming week as well as there is no major trigger following the corporate result season coming to an end, said Topline Securities CEO Mohammad Sohail. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of 929 million and sellers of 746 million worth of shares, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

The market is likely to improve in the week ahead as global markets recovered on Friday evening, said Sohail. The oil sector might lead the way up as the sector is expected to benefit from a surge in international oil prices, added Sohail.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2011.