Market Watch: Stock market wears a deserted look

Volumes drop to levels not seen in the past year.


Express December 26, 2011

KARACHI: The stock market wore a deserted look on the first trading session of the week as investors seemed to have extended their weekend break.

Trade volumes dropped to 18 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 33 million shares. Meanwhile, trading value dropped to a 16-month low of Rs0.6 billion.

Holiday season and gloomy political picture kept the local market deserted, said Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal. Investors preferred to remain sidelined due to the ongoing memo case and rumours of further fallout between the government and the army. This was further exacerbated by the absence of foreign investors because of the Christmas holidays.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index crawled up 0.08 per cent or 9.26 points to end at 11,310.35 point level.

Local participation also remained subdued after rumours surfaced about a statement from the finance ministry regarding Capital Gains Tax stating that there would be no change in tax collection modalities and would ensure strict compliance.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of meagre 7.6 million and sellers of 12.3 million worth of shares, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Shares of 304 companies were traded on the first trading session of the week. At the end of the day 92 stocks closed higher, 102 declined while 110 remained unchanged.

Fatima Fertilizer was the volume leader with 3.38 million shares declining Rs0.04 to finish at Rs23.12. It was followed by NIB Bank with 1.63 million shares which remained unchanged at Rs1.49 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 1.2 million shares gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs4.12.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2011.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ