Market watch : Foreigners turn buyers, but index falls below 32,800

Benchmark KSE-100 index loses 391.12 points

KARACHI: Pakistan equities tumbled to close at 32,760.95 points on the last trading day of the week, sending out reminders that the horrid phase, which has seen the index fall from its peak of over 36,200, is still not over.

Backed by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rate unchanged, stocks opened sideways, but soon saw selling pressure as the terrorist attack on the Pakistan Air Force base jittered whatever confidence investors had.



Despite foreigners being net buyers, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 1.18% or 391.12 points to end at 32,760.95 on Friday.

According to Elixir Securities, activity in the wider market remained muted and most sectors closed lower with index-heavy Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC PA -4.15%) and Habib Bank (HBL PA -2.66%) doing the most damage.

“On the other hand, Mari Petroleum (PA +1.49%) closed higher after announcing a major hydrocarbon discovery with earnings impact of around Rs5 per share.

“We see range-bound trading next week with turnover likely to remain on the lower side ahead of long Eid holidays,” he added.

Meanwhile, JS Global analyst Arhum Ghous said Byco declined by 3.8% despite the company announcing its FY15 EPS at Rs0.07, against a loss of Rs6.07 last year.

“Across the broad selling pressure was witnessed due to lack of buying from institutional side,” said Ghous. “Moving forward, we expect the market to remain under pressure due to roll over week. Investors are advised to stick to high-dividend yield plays and low beta stocks like HUBC and KAPCO,” Ghous concluded.

Trade volumes declined to 123 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 182 million shares.

Shares of 341 companies were traded on Friday. At the end of the day, 79 stocks closed higher, 242 declined while 20 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.7 billion.



Byco Petroleum was the volume leader with 15.3 million shares, losing Rs0.77 to finish at Rs24.32. It was followed by K-Electric Limited with 7.8 million shares, losing Rs0.10 to close at Rs7.20 and TRG Pakistan with 6 million shares, losing Rs1.61 to close at Rs30.62.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs14.8 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th,  2015.

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