Market watch: Security situation continues to guide sentiment

Positive sector-specific news, earnings save bourse from falling below 18,000.

KARACHI: Activity at the Karachi bourse remained stalled in the wake of the deteriorating security situation in the metropolis. Falling heavyweights, Oil and Gas Development Company and MCB Bank in particular, resulted in the index falling. The only silver lining was that the index managed to stay above the psychological 18,000-point level.

The stock market lost its strong footing amid profit-taking in oil exploration and production company stocks due to a decline in international crude oil prices.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.5% or 90.8 points to end at the 18,035.97 point level. Amidst worsening law and order in the city, investors have taken the backseat as trade volumes continue to remain shallow at 225 million shares compared with Monday’s 194 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.54 billion.

“The local bourse continued to struggle above 18,000 as investors remain cautious over the US-Pakistan relationship going forward,” reported Nazim Muttalib, analyst at Elixir Securities.

Jahangir Siddiqui and Company was the first to ruin the mood by announcing lower than expected earnings and payouts, while lower inflation figures continue to haunt financials pulling the banking sector down despite offering decent payouts in their earnings announcements earlier. MCB Bank closed down 3.6% at Rs216.89 and Bank Alfalah closed at Rs18.67, down 0.91%.

On the contrary, expectations of a raise in deemed duty for refineries fetched institutional interest in the names of Attock Refinery and National Refinery.

Lotte Pakistan stayed on the investors’ radar as news flow suggested that Lotte – South Korean parent of Lotte Pakistan – intends to finance a one million tons per annum expansion plan of purified terephtalic acid (PTA) capacity. The company was also in the limelight over unconfirmed news that it might be able to secure some relaxation in duties on it is imports. Senior representatives of its Korean mother company are currently in the country, negotiating with senior politicians and businesspersons, according to news reports.

Pakistan International Airlines was the volume leader with 27.11 million shares gaining Re1 to finish at Rs7.77. It was followed by Lotte Pakistan with 23.22 million shares climbing Rs0.33 to close at Rs8.02 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 17.78 million shares falling Re1 to close at Rs16.61.

Foreign institutional investors were buyers of Rs248.76 million and sellers of Rs178.28 million worth of equity, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2013.

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