Market watch : Last session under PPP-led govt closes in red

Investors stay sidelined due to obscurity concerning interim setup.

KARACHI: Volatility prevailed at the country’s largest bourse coupled with lower activity on the final trading session of the incumbent government’s tenure as the larger political picture remained unclear over the interim setup. The Pakistan Peoples Party-led government’s five-year tenure expired on Friday.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index shed 0.43% or 75.86 points to end at 17,664.83 point level. Investors stuck to the sidelines as volumes set another two-month low, touching 115 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 128 million shares.

“Selling in Engro Corporation, MCB Bank and Pakistan Oilfields caused the benchmark index to fall,” reported Samar Iqbal, dealer at Topline Securities. Smooth transition of power to caretaker setup has so far not forced investors to build new positions, Iqbal added.

“Engro remained under pressure since the start of the session as media reports reiterated no concessionary rates over gas supply to its Enven plant,” said Nazim Muttalib, analyst at Elixir Securities.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), in its meeting on Thursday, rejected the plan to provide gas to Engro Corporation’s new fertiliser plant at a concessionary rates of 70 US cents per million British thermal unit (mmbtu).

Mixed views over long distance and international operators’ call termination rates under the international clearing house (ICH) regime helped Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) on a technical rebound, while banks and cement traded sideways on thin volumes. The ICH gateway will converge all international calls to a single technical gateway led by PTCL against the current practice of being handled by 14 long distance international operators.

Shares of 331 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day 141 stocks closed higher, 146 declined while 44 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs3.82 billion.

Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 13.2 million shares gaining Rs0.32 to finish at Rs7.74. It was followed by PTCL with 10.45 million shares climbing Rs0.28 to close at Rs20.49 and Engro Corporation with 9.03 million shares falling Rs3.75 to close at Rs119.61.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs89.72 million worth of equity, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2013.

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