Market watch :See-saw index falls at day end

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 58.10 points.

KARACHI: The index flowed in a see-saw fashion, finally settling 0.2% lower as investors opted to remain on the sidelines over fears of further foreign selling.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.22% or 58.10 points to end at 26,595.63.

Trade volumes rose to 273 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 303 million.

“Oil names were in pressure since the opening bell with Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC PA -0.61%), Pakistan Petroleum (PPL PA -0.11%) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO PA -1.08%) on reported foreigner selling,” said Jawwad Aboobakar of Elixir Securities.



“While the index spent most of the day in the negative territory, Engro Corporation (ENGRO PA +0.14%) remained buoyant for most of the day as investors took the recent decline in the stock as a good opportunity to build positions.

“With the market expecting January’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation numbers to clock in below 9%, some late buying was witnessed in cements with Lucky Cement (LUCK PA +1.7%), DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA -0.01%), Kohat Cement (KOHC PA +1.8%) seeing heightened investor interest.

“On the other hand, banking sector remained laggard with National Bank closing flat and MCB Bank (MCB PA -0.3%) closing lower on CPI expectations and unchanged interest rates this quarter,” he said.

Fauji Fertilizer (FFC PA -0.9%) announced its 2013 financial results, posting an earning per share of 15.83 (down 3% year-on-year) slightly above expectations along with a Rs4/share cash payout taking full year payout to Rs15.35/share.



Shares of 405 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day, 231 stocks closed higher, 165 declined while 9 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.0 billion.

Jahangir Siddiqui and Company was the volume leader with 31.7 million shares, losing Rs0.64 to finish at Rs11.89. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 20.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.07 to close at Rs9.90 and Bank of Punjab with 16.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.23 to close at Rs11.70.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs400 million, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2014.

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