Business

Market watch: Foreigners buy, but index remains on snooze mode

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 11.77 points

Our Correspondent October 20, 2015 1 min read

Benchmark KSE-100 index rises 11.77 points. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

KARACHI: Unable to sustain the momentum over the psychological 34,000-point barrier, the index ended only marginally positive as value and volume of shares traded during the day remained lacklustre.

At close on Monday, the KSE-100 index rose 0.03% or 11.77 points to end at 33,966.75.

JS Global analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan said volatility prevailed in Monday’s session where the index swung between -0.01% and +0.36%. “The oil exploration and production sector remained under pressure where major scrips like Pakistan State Oil (PSO -0.7%), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL -0.6%) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL -1.5%) remained under pressure throughout the day, with the exception of HASCOL that hit its upper limit after the announcement that Vittol Asia Pte Limited could potentially invest in the company.

“News of impending gas tariff hike in January 2016 as promised by the Finance Minister to IMF impacted the cement and fertiliser sector as they remained under pressure.”

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated activity in the wider market remained dull as the ongoing month of Muharram has likely put participants in a snooze mode. Trade volumes rose to 135 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 132 million shares.

Shares of 393 companies were traded on Monday. At the end of the day, 206 stocks closed higher, 171 declined while 16 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.6 billion.

SNGPL was the volume leader with 11.1 million shares gaining Rs0.75 to finish at Rs34.59. It was followed by SSGC with 9.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.76 to close at Rs38.82 and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company (JSCL) with 9 million shares, gaining Rs0.27 to close at Rs20.92.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs40 million during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2015.

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