Market watch: Bourse slips, unable to sustain positive momentum

Benchmark KSE-100 index falls 82.69 points

KARACHI: The bourse failed to sustain its positive momentum on Friday and settled lower with lack of investor interest being the main reason for the decline.

Blue-chip stocks were sidelined while shares of small and medium-sized firms took the front seat.

At close, the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index recorded a fall of 0.24% or 82.69 points to end at 34,249.74.



Elixir Securities in its report said equities broke the two-day positive streak to close the week lower as a weak performance in the region pushed the wider market to take a breather.

“Stocks opened positive continuing the momentum of the previous session with the index gaining 130 points in early hours,” said the report. “However, the market caved in to profit-taking and closed in the red.”

“Activity in the wider market was noticeably lower as investors opted to stay on the sidelines and waited for clarity after Thursday’s on-system and off-market foreign selling.”

The report added major sectors namely exploration and production, cement and fertiliser ended down, while small and mid-caps continued to dominate the volume charts led by a retail-driven activity.

JS Global analyst Ovais Ahsan said the market succumbed to profit-taking towards the end of the week after good corporate results from bellwether stocks inspired a rally through the week.

“Pakistan State Oil (-2.2%), Engro (-1.15%) and Fatima Fertilizer (-3.18%) ended as major decliners of the day as participants kept a watchful eye on consistent selling from foreigners.”



Ahsan said the banking sector showed resilience with MCB Bank (+1.46%) and HBL (+0.53%) gaining on anticipation that the State Bank would finally bring to an end its streak of rate cuts after the rupee slid to Rs105.50 versus the greenback.

“K-Electric (+1.47%) was the volume leader for the day after ‘electrifyingly’ good results warranted the bullish move.”

Trade volumes rose to 196 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 192 million.

Shares of 376 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 142 stocks closed higher, 213 declined while 21 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs9.4 billion.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 30.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.11 to finish at Rs7.57. It was followed by Pace (Pak) Limited with 21.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.37 to close at Rs8.17 and TRG Pakistan with 11.33 million shares, gaining Rs0.38 to close at Rs37.13.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs0.74 million worth of shares during the trade session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st,  2015.

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