KARACHI: The index remained dull throughout the day with the market ignoring the fundamentals. The bourse witnessed a turnover of a little less than $15 million worth of shares, last seen during the fall of 2012.
At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.07% or 20.28 points to end at 29,477.29.
“Overall, it was a monotonous day at the KSE,” commented analyst Faisal Bilwani Elixir Securities.
“This prolonged lull is making investors somewhat anxious and clueless with many blaming the ‘Ramazan factor’ where overall trading activity slows down while few point finger at political challenges that are lined up post the holy month. “We don’t see confidence to be a major issue, however believe that liquidity takes the prime responsibility,” said Bilwani.
“We dare to continue to recommend staying long in value plays and our liking includes NBP, BAFL, DGKC, PSO, HUBC, NCPL, NML and EFOODS,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Syed Faran Rizvi of JS Global said that the market recorded a 23-month lowest trading volumes of 38 million shares.
“We expect the market to remain range bound for the next few trading sessions as investors remain sidelined ahead of Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) on July 12th.
“We foresee the market to pick up momentum post MPS announcement, where Oil and Gas sector is our top pick as the result season is around the corner,” he said. Trade volumes slightly rose to 38 million shares compared with Tuesday’s tally of 20 million.
Shares of 302 companies were traded on Tuesday. At the end of the day, 96 stocks closed higher, 178 declined while 28 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs1.8 billion.
K-Electric Limited was the volume leader with 3.1 million shares, declining Rs0.03 to finish at Rs8.17. It was followed by Lafarge Pakistan with 2.8 million shares, losing Rs0.22 to close at Rs16.08 and Fauji Cement with 2.4 million shares, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs19.54.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs205 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2014.
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