Marekt watch: Market listless as year draws to close

Index gains 35 points amid lower participation.

KARACHI: As 2012 draws to a close, activity at the Karachi bourse remained constrained after the one-day national holiday. Amid markedly lower volumes, the stock exchange witnessed a fluctuating session that saw it close above the 16,900 points barrier.

“Another dull session was witnessed, amid the prevailing law and order situation, as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines,” said Topline Securities equity dealer Samar Iqbal. “Renewed buying interest was seen in the fertiliser sector amid an increase in urea off-take for the month,” she added.

“Exploration and production and the fertiliser sectors were in the limelight, as they accounted for major volumes in blue chips,” added JS Global analyst Fahad Ali.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index gained 0.21% or 35.40 points to end at the 16,927.34 points level. In line with the trend ahead of the end of the year, trade volumes constricted further to 113 million shares, compared with Monday’s tally of 132 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.02 billion.

Shares of 377 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day 377 stocks closed higher, 193 declined while 56 remained unchanged.

Pakistan International Airlines was the volume leader with 14.90 million shares gaining Rs1.00 to finish at Rs3.99. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 9.98 million shares losing Rs0.03 to close at Rs6.15 and Maple Leaf Cement with 4.25 million shares losing Rs0.17 to close at Rs14.62.

“Equities closed positive on thin volumes as foreign participation remained shallow on the Christmas and New Year break; however, second- and third-tier stocks continued to churn decent volumes on retailers’ participation,” said Jawwad Aboobakar, analyst at Elixir Securities.

“Interestingly, oil exploration companies like Pakistan Oil Fields and the Oil and Gas Development Company witnessed short-lived excitement, … [while] textile-cum-power company Nishat Chunian was under pressure on news of a decline in local cotton prices, although [its] earnings during this quarter are expected to beat forecasts,” he added.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs240.96 million and sellers of Rs257.44 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2012.          

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