Market watch: Investors exercise caution as index down 194 points

Benchmark 100-share index ends at 34,516.30

KARACHI: After spending days in the black, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 index closed negative as investors chose to take fresh positions and showed an interest in second and third-tier scrips.

While volumes still remained on the higher side, foreigners remained sellers as the index faced resistance close to the 34,000-point level.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index recorded a fall of 0.56% or 193.99 points to end at 34,516.30.

According to an analyst at Topline Securities, investors preferred to trim their positions close to the June year-end.



“Investors took fresh positions in Engro Foods (EFOODS) on the back of better-than-expected June earnings that helped the stock at Rs153 per share, up 3.2%. Renewed interest in Jahangir Siddiqui & Company (JSCL) and Byco Petroleum Pakistan (BYCO) helped both stocks gain 4.6% and 6.1%, respectively,” added the analysts,” they said.

“Major activity was seen in K-Electric (KEL), JSCL, Dewan Cement (DCL) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) of 120 million, 55 million, 37 million and 35 million shares, respectively,” they added.

Meanwhile, KEL, in a KSE notice, stated that the government and KES Power, who jointly own 90.8% shareholding in the company, have not disposed of their ownership in KEL.

Analysts believe that the high volume traded in KEL in the last two sessions was due to activity by institutional investors.



Meanwhile, Arif Habib Corporation’s Ahsan Mehanti said weak global crude prices, falling banking spreads and bearish global stocks played a catalyst role in bearish sentiments.

Trade volumes decreased to 525 million shares compared to 568 million on Monday. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs15.8 billion.

Shares of 373 companies were traded. Of these, 138 companies closed higher, 207 fell and 28 remained unchanged.

K-Electric Limited was the volume leader with 119 million shares, losing Rs0.28 to close at Rs8.57. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 54.8 million shares, gaining Rs1.04 to close at Rs23.81 and Dewan Cement with 36.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.68 to close at Rs10.99.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs800 million worth of shares during the session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th,  2015.

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