Market watch: Volatile trading witnessed, index falls

Benchmark KSE-100 index drops 43.73 points.

KARACHI: After days of ending in the black, the index closed marginally negative after volatile trading followed by value-buying primarily by institutions.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.14% or 43.73 points to end at 30,136.57.

“Oils did the most damage with index heavy Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC PA -2%) closing the third consecutive negative session on the highest turnover in six months as investors see lower prices in secondary offering due in coming few weeks,” said Faisal Bilwani of Elixir Securities.



“Cements generated interest with Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF PA -2.4%) topping volumes charts and closing negative after announcing annual earnings that were below estimates while Lucky Cement (LUCK PA +1.3%) and DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA +0.6%) gained on institutional buying.

“Financials weathered selling in broader market with heavyweights Habib Bank (HBL PA +1.2%) and MCB Bank (MCB PA +0.2%) ending the day green on optimism over earnings in the coming few quarters.

“Engro Powergen Qadirpur (EPQL)  gained max 50% on first day of provisional IPO trade; EPQL is primarily owned by EPL (a wholly owned subsidiary of ENGRO PA), which, prior to the recent private placement, held 84% shareholding in the company, whereas the remainder was held by ENGRO (9.88%), IFC (4.95%) and company employees (1.17%).



“We expect volatile trading likely testing 30,000 while small and mid-caps along with illiquid pharmaceuticals, autos and consumers will gain attention. We recommend buying MCB, NML, ENGRO, PSO, DGKC and KEL and advise booking gains in HBL, HUBC and FFC,” said Bilwani.

Trade volumes fell to 153 million shares compared to Tuesday’s tally of 195 million.

Shares of 403 companies were traded on Wednesday. Of these, 187 companies declined, 188 closed higher while 28 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day stood at Rs10.5 billion.

Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 20 million shares, losing Rs0.67 to close at Rs27.81. It was followed by Faysal Bank with 8.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.03 to close at Rs18.65 and DG Khan Cement with 7.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.68 to close at Rs83.22.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs207 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, September 18^th, 2014.

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