Benchmark
100-share index loses 151.44 points.
KARACHI: The index broke its five-day positive streak to end Tuesday in the red as banks and cements settled lower on institutional selling.
At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index closed at 31,600.73, registering a decrease of 0.48% or 151.44 points.
Elixir Securities analyst Faisal Bilwani said financials namely United Bank (UBL PA -2.78%) and MCB Bank (MCB PA -1.1%) closed lower after the government announced Rs166 per share floor price for Habib Bank (HBL PA -3.26%) book-building; a price that makes Habib Bank (HBL PA) very appealing given the strong valuations.
“Small and mid-cap plays to the likes of Pak Electron (PAEL PA +5%) attracted retail interest and churned heavy volumes, while oil stocks saved the day and kept downside in check as numbers suggest recent discovery will increase earnings by over Rs3.5 per share,” said Bilwani.
“Pakistan Petroleum (PPL PA +1.63%) and Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC PA +.59%) also gained, and are expected to see an earnings increase of Rs0.57 per share and Rs0.26 per share respectively,” he added.
JS Global analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan said the market sentiment remained negative in anticipation of gas tariff hike because of which the cement, fertiliser and textile sectors remained under pressure, closing most scripts of these sectors in red.
“As the HBL’s secondary offering started on Tuesday (to be continued till Friday) investors’ interest gravitated towards book building.
“Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) rallied on Tuesday as the exploration and production (E&P) company, along with its partners (OGDC, PPL) has successfully discovered hydrocarbon reserves at Mardankhel-1’s (Tal Block) Lumshiwal formation,” informed Khan. “This discovery is likely to have positive earnings impacts of Rs4.3 per share for POL (+4.53%), Rs0.7 per share for PPL (+1.9%) and Rs0.3 per share for OGDC (+0.95%). “
“Going forward, we expect the market to be volatile, while negativity can be expected if the gas tariff is substantial,” concluded Khan.
Trade volumes rose to 249 million shares compared to 241 million on Monday.
Shares of 359 companies were traded on Tuesday. Of these, 217 companies declined, 126 closed higher and 16 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs13.9 billion.
Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 31.8 million shares, gaining Rs1.26 to close at Rs58.85. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 26.2 million shares, gaining Rs1 to close at Rs20.54 and Pak Elektron with 18.4 million shares, gaining Rs2.66 to close at Rs55.97.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs404 million worth of shares during the session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2015.
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