Market watch: Index takes a breather after continuous gains

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 193.82 points.

KARACHI: The index opened positive and traded volatile before settling into red, witnessing profit taking by institutions despite further strengthening of the rupee against the US dollar during the day.

The Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.71% or 193.82 points to end at 27,115.20.

“Nishat Mills (NML PA -4.6%) bore the brunt of rupee appreciation with textile exports deemed less competitive, while Pakistan State Oil PSO PA +0.3% remained buoyant due to exchange gains,” said Naveen Yaseen, a market analyst at Elixir Securities.



“Investors opted to book gains in index heavy oil names to the likes of Oil and Gas Development Companies (OGDC PA -1.5%) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL PA -2.1%), whereas rumours of a temporary plant shutdown drew investor attention in Engro Corp (ENGRO PA -1.01%).

“Mid tier names such as Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR PA +5%), Pak Suzuki Motors (PSMC PA +5%) continued with the momentum and closed at their respective upper price limits along with Abbott Laboratories (ABOT PA +3.9%) that strengthened on the back of rupee gains,” said Yaseen.

Meanwhile, Fahad Ali from JS Global said that the cement sector saw accumulation where Maple Leaf Cement and Lafarge Pakistan maintained their average rates throughout the day.

“We expect the market to remain volatile until the announcement of the monetary policy which is scheduled for March 15, 2014,” Ali concluded.

Trade volumes slightly rose to 313 million shares compared to Tuesday’s tally of 305 million.



Shares of 387 companies were traded on Wednesday. At the end of the day, 148 stocks closed higher, 226 declined and 13 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13 billion.

Lafarge Pakistan was the volume leader with 45.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to finish at Rs11.29. It was followed by Byco Petroleum with 16.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs12.09 and Engro Fertilizer with 15.2 million shares, gaining Rs1.89 to close at Rs59.06.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs78 million worth of shares, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2014.

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