Market watch: Stocks seesaw as uncertainty lingers

Benchmark KSE-100 drops 36.92 points.

KARACHI: The market witnessed a see-saw day as the index fluctuated between the black and red before ending a little below its starting level. Uncertainty on the political front has caused the market to shed points with the slide beginning since August 11.

At the end on Thursday, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.13% or 36.92 points to end at 27,774.43.

Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said news flow and developments on the political front tested nerves with the KSE100 seeing a dip of over 1.7% intraday.



“It was followed by a sharp bounce back up before finally settling marginally negative,” said Bilwani. “Stocks opened gap down and tested new recent lows on overnight developments of increased fear of unrest and violence as the government refused to budge and protesters called off negotiations.

“However, the mid-day announcement that the government has agreed to one of PAT’s demand brought a big sigh of relief as this averted any potential unrest.

“Volumes improved and index names generated interest on institutional activity. K-Electric (KEL) announced FY14 earnings after market closed with a surprise Rs0.52 cash payout for minority shareholders while earnings were also significantly above estimates at Rs0.47 per share for the year.

JS Global analyst Fahad M Ali said that volumes stood low as uncertainty within foreign and local investors prevailed.

“LUCK continued to slide after hitting two consecutive lower circuits but institutional buying mitigated the fall. GTYR gained 3.8% following healthy earnings of Rs8.60 per share (+30% YoY) and a cash dividend of Rs.6.50 for the year ended June 30.”

Trade volumes decreased to 115 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 132 million.



Shares of 295 companies were traded on Thursday. Share prices of 145 companies declined, 126 closed higher while 24 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.3 billion.

Maple Leaf Pakistan was the volume leader with 9.7 million shares, declining Rs0.07 to close at Rs25.47. It was followed by Bank of Punjab with 7.8 million shares, staying constant at Rs7.91 and Pak Electron Limited with 7.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.40 to close at Rs28.76.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs289 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2014.

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