Stocks remain dull as investors stay away

KARACHI: Stocks remained dull in Friday’s trading session as investors showed lack of interest and were busy in profit-taking, dealers said.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.35 per cent or 36.5 points to end at 10,315.2 points.

High foreign inflows continued while local institutions kept a ‘hold’ policy, said IGI Securities Equity Head Zainab Jabbar. Rumours of another 50-basis-point hike in discount rate in the next monetary policy depressed investor sentiments, said Jabbar.

Trade volumes remained flat at 55.9 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 55.7 million shares.

Highlight of the day was the annual result announcement by Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).

PPL announced its results in line with market expectations with a 20 per cent bonus. Its share price surged by Rs5.14 to end at Rs209.

PSO, on the other hand, surprised the market with lower-than-expected results. The stock traded in a range of Rs16 during the trading session before falling 3.9 per cent to close at Rs271.64.

Shares of 350 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 128 stocks closed higher, 202 declined and 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.1 billion.

Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) started with high volumes, hitting a peak of Rs149.99 on the back of talk that high foreign interest was present in the scrip, said JS Global Capital analyst Arsalan Khan.

PPL was the volume leader with 5.7 million shares. It was followed by PSO with 3.43 million shares and Lotte Pakistan PTA with 3.39 million shares, losing Rs0.1 to close at Rs8.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2010.