Market watch: Three-day winning spree stops

Benchmark KSE 100-share index falls 121.69 points.

KARACHI: The stock market experienced profit-taking across the board on Thursday as fears of the likely impact of widespread floods on the economy affected investor interest.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share index stood at 35,934.99, falling 0.34% or 121.69 points.

“The index broke the three-day winning streak to close negative and below 36,000 points on profit-taking without any panic,” said Faisal Bilwani of Elixir Securities.



“Stocks struggled to find a clear direction in early trade while index names soon turned red on thin volumes with cement and oil shares dragging the wider market.

“Financial stocks were mixed and United Bank Limited (-0.8%) closed in the negative despite announcing half-yearly earnings that beat analyst estimates.

“As expected, the market ignored politics with no reaction following reports that the judicial commission investigating poll fraud has rejected the allegations of systematic rigging,” he said.

“With the central bank’s monetary policy statement due over the weekend, local institutional participation may slow down despite most people expecting no change, however, profits and payouts will continue to keep interest alive in the wider market,” he concluded.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said oil stocks remained weak after a plunge in crude prices to around $49 a barrel in the world market.

“Current account deficit data for 2014-15, political uncertainty and limited foreign interest played their part in the bearish activity,” he said.

Shares of 398 companies were traded on Thursday. Of these, 168 companies closed higher, 208 fell and 22 remained unchanged.

Trading volumes decreased to 575 million shares compared to 621 million on Wednesday.

Dewan Cement was the volume leader with 33 million shares, gaining Rs0.44 to close at Rs15.46. It was followed by The Bank of Punjab with 30.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.08 to close at Rs10.03 and Lotte Chemical with 29.1 million shares, losing Rs0.07 to close at Rs8.44.



Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs343 million worth of shares during the session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th,  2015.

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