Market watch: Investors book profits ahead of weekend
Benchmark KSE-100 index sheds 35 points.
KARACHI:
The market closed jittery ahead of the weekend, as investors chose to book profits over uncertainty surrounding the monetary policy announcement. A judicial hearing of the National Reconciliation Ordinance case and concerns for the country’s security situation resulted in a bearish market on the last trading day of the week.
“A choppy session was witnessed today at the local bourse ahead of the monetary policy announcement, as investors have mixed expectations regarding the size of the cut in the benchmark policy rate,” commented Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal. “Hopes for a cut in the policy rate invited institutional support in leveraged stocks in cement, textile and fertliser sectors, amid uncertainty over the gas shortfall in the industrial sector,” added Ahsan Mehanti, from Arif Habib Corp.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index shed 0.22% or 34.57 points to end at the 15,754.39 points level. Trade volumes were higher at 146 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 138 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.04 billion.
“Concerns over economic and financial matters voiced by the International Monetary Fund [among others] kept the local equity market in the nervous zone, even though existing levels of benchmark interest rates will continue to invite flows in growth and dividend-yielding stocks,” said Hasnain Asghar Ali, COO of Escap.
Ali remarked that the stock market seemed to lose momentum on Friday, as much of its recent gains had banked on a cut in the policy rate, the extent of which is still uncertain.
However, he said that the presence of buyers on intervals kept panic away and restricted the downside in singled-out stocks with high volumetric activity, which invited traders on dips.
Shares of 359 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day 144 stocks closed higher, 160 declined while 59 remained unchanged. Nishat Mills was the volume leader with 19.33 million shares gaining Rs0.88 to finish at Rs61.40. It was followed by Pace Pakistan with 17.87 million shares gaining Rs0.34 to close at Rs3.49 and Karachi Electric Supply Company with 12.76 million shares losing Rs0.79 to close at Rs5.70.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2012.
The market closed jittery ahead of the weekend, as investors chose to book profits over uncertainty surrounding the monetary policy announcement. A judicial hearing of the National Reconciliation Ordinance case and concerns for the country’s security situation resulted in a bearish market on the last trading day of the week.
“A choppy session was witnessed today at the local bourse ahead of the monetary policy announcement, as investors have mixed expectations regarding the size of the cut in the benchmark policy rate,” commented Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal. “Hopes for a cut in the policy rate invited institutional support in leveraged stocks in cement, textile and fertliser sectors, amid uncertainty over the gas shortfall in the industrial sector,” added Ahsan Mehanti, from Arif Habib Corp.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index shed 0.22% or 34.57 points to end at the 15,754.39 points level. Trade volumes were higher at 146 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 138 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.04 billion.
“Concerns over economic and financial matters voiced by the International Monetary Fund [among others] kept the local equity market in the nervous zone, even though existing levels of benchmark interest rates will continue to invite flows in growth and dividend-yielding stocks,” said Hasnain Asghar Ali, COO of Escap.
Ali remarked that the stock market seemed to lose momentum on Friday, as much of its recent gains had banked on a cut in the policy rate, the extent of which is still uncertain.
However, he said that the presence of buyers on intervals kept panic away and restricted the downside in singled-out stocks with high volumetric activity, which invited traders on dips.
Shares of 359 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day 144 stocks closed higher, 160 declined while 59 remained unchanged. Nishat Mills was the volume leader with 19.33 million shares gaining Rs0.88 to finish at Rs61.40. It was followed by Pace Pakistan with 17.87 million shares gaining Rs0.34 to close at Rs3.49 and Karachi Electric Supply Company with 12.76 million shares losing Rs0.79 to close at Rs5.70.
Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs667.08 million and sellers of Rs213.74 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2012.