Market watch: Bourse recovers after Tuesday’s selling frenzy

Benchmark KSE-100 index climbs 74 points.

KARACHI: The local bourse managed to recover by 0.5% after panic selloff induced yesterday on the news of orders for arrest of the prime minister by the Supreme Court. Investors, however, stayed on the sidelines as uncertain political clouds dominated the day.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index climbed 0.46% or 73.58 points to end at 16,181.47 point level. Trade volumes fell to a paltry level of 96 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 239 million shares.

The march by Tahirul Qadri gained further momentum after the apex court’s orders, while possibility of more parties joining the protests was adding to the speculation of what lies ahead.

“The market witnessed a snooze day as the ongoing speech by Tahirul Qadri kept investors attention away,” reported Sibtain Mustafa, analyst at Elixir Securities. Overall, the day managed to hold yesterday’s blues and added 74 points as institutional buying in yield plays and index heavyweights helped pull oversold momentum.

Buying interest in leading sectors such as oil, cements and fertiliser helped the index recover, said Samar Iqbal, equity dealer at Topline Securities.

Shares of 353 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day 196 stocks closed higher, 113 declined while 44 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.7 billion.

“Engro Corporation gained 2.3% as investors perceive Engro to be a beneficiary of the regime change in the country,” said JS Global Capital analyst Shakir Padela.

Cement sector managed to consolidate its position as optimism of better result announcements outweighed political noise.

TRG Pakistan was the volume leader with eight million shares gaining Rs0.36 to finish at Rs6.27. It was followed by Fauji Cement with 7.4 million shares climbing Rs0.08 to close at Rs6.74 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 6.6 million shares shedding Rs0.02 to close at Rs14.11.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs303 million ($3.1 million), according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

The market is expected to remain sensitive to news flows as politics fight against fundamentals defining the market, however, any discounts and correction will welcome institutional investments. Moreover, a better than expected earnings season will also support the index.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2013.

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