Market watch: Economic, political outlook dampens sentiments

As Karachi’s law and order situation worsens, investors opt to book profits.

KARACHI:

The market continued on its downswing for the second session of the week, as law and order concerns in the city and global markets continued to deteriorate.

“Stocks closed lower amid consolidation in blue-chip stocks,” reported Arif Habib Corp analyst Ahsan Mehanti. “Profit-taking continues as global stocks and commodities fall on economic worries, despite record home remittances in October. Security unrest in the city, limited foreign interest and rising political uncertainty played a catalyst role in bearish sentiments at the bourse,” he added.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index lost 0.52% or 83.96 points to end at the 16,129.72 points level. Trade volumes improved to 157 million shares compared with Monday’s tally of 149 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.94 billion.

“The KSE-100 index ended the day in the red in the absence of major broad-based buying. Profit-taking was witnessed, given a precautionary stance around the 16,000 points level,” said JS Global analyst Mujtaba Barakzai.

Shares of 358 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day, 136 stocks closed higher, 150 declined while 72 remained unchanged.

Jahangir Siddiqui & Company was the volume leader with 35.78 million shares gaining Rs0.31 to finish at Rs16.45. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 13.07 million shares losing Rs0.12 to close at Rs6.52 and Azgard Nine with 9.76 million shares losing Rs0.26 to close at Rs7.33.

“Political uncertainty and judicial intervention have created uncertainty for both domestic and foreign investors,” complained Barakaai. “The law and order situation in Karachi and weak international economic outlook have [also] dampened sentiments,” he added.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs298.69 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited. “FIIs were rumoured sellers in banking and oil stocks,” reported Barakzai.

“Major selling was seen in the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and MCB Bank. OGDC closed Rs2.86 down while MCB lost Rs3.14,” reported Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2012.