Market Watch: Stock market closes in the red on panic selling

Benchmark KSE-100 index loses 219 points.

KARACHI:

The stock market failed to start the week on a positive note, as technical corrections continued and investors abandoned positions amid lower volumes.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index lost 1.65% or 219.40 points to end at the 13,077 point level.

Friday’s foreign selling and thin participation in morning trade made day traders’ life a little difficult, while local institutions – who have largely been sellers taking advantage of the recent gains – await further correction before cherry picking value plays, said Elixir Securities Equity Dealer Faisal Bilwani.

Trade volumes fell to 256.86 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 426.21 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.53 billion.  According to Bilwani, small and mid cap scrips that were lately of particular interest to investors were dumped on panic selling. Bluechips continued to remain out of favour; however, market chatter suggested foreign participation in select stocks, he said.

Engro Corporation closed at its lower limit of the day, after its Enven urea plant was shut down over the weekend due to gas shortages. Engro’s worries will likely continue in the days to come as investors remain extremely sensitive to gas supply issues, said Bilwani.

Jahangir Siddiqui Company Limited (JSCL) was the volume leader with 21.33 million shares losing Re1.00 to finish at Rs17.39. It was followed by Lafarge Pakistan with 17.65 million shares losing Rs0.28 to close at Rs3.59 and Dewan Cement with 17.31 million shares gaining Rs0.16 to close at Rs4.22. JSCL had recently been on an upswing, consistently posting gains over the past trading sessions.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs241.41 million and sellers of Rs188.75 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2012.