RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: A volatile session was witnessed at Karachi Stock Exchange Wednesday and the benchmark KSE-100 index shed 44 points to close at 30,137 points down from 30,180 points.
Analysts said that market is still volatile following the political unrest in the country. “We expect the market to remain capricious due to the prolonged political uncertainty,” they added.
Samar Iqbal, analyst at Topline Securities, said the market closed marginally down amid profit-taking in OGDC and POL with above average volumes. Overall, the benchmark index fell by 0.14 percent to 30,137 points.
She said volumes were also on the decline, while the value remained at $100 million (value Rs 10.55 billion).
“MLCF witnessed heavy selling after announcing lower than expected June quarter earnings and FABL saw a renewed interest as investors believe that the bank will continue performing better amid mid-tier banks,” she added.
During the intraday trading, KSE-100 index touched 30,267 points highest and 30,086 points lowest level. Following a negative trend, trading volume at the ready counter decreased by 21 percent to 153.39 million shares Wednesday compared to 195 million shares Tuesday.
Market capitalisation posted a slight decline of Rs 14 billion to reach Rs 7.018 trillion down from Rs 7.032 trillion. Trading took place in 403 companies, of which 188 closed in green zone, 187 in the red while 28 companies remained unchanged.
Among top 10 volume leaders, five companies closed positive. Maple Leaf Cement emerged the volume leader with 20 million shares, losing Re 0.67 to close at Rs 27.81. Faysal Bank stood second, up Re 0.03 to close at Rs 18.65 on 8.6 million shares. D.G.K Cement ranked third with 7.8 million shares, gaining Re 0.68 to Rs 83.22. Some 6.8 million shares of Lafarge Pak were traded and the scrip moved up by Re 0.09 to Rs 16.19.
Pak Electron Ltd lost Re 0.51 to Rs 29.19 on 6.4 million shares. With some 5 million shares volume, B.O.Punjab closed at Rs 8.11, up Re 0.01. K-Electric decreased by Re 0.16 to Rs 8.29 on 4.8 million shares. Engro Fertilizer Ltd fell by Re 0.08 to Rs 54.26 on 4.6 million shares.
With a trading volume of 4.5 million shares, Engro Corp declined by Rs 2.52 to close at Rs 174.98 and Askari Bank closed at Rs 21.80, up Re 0.02 on 3.8 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Nestle Pak were the top gainers with Rs 300.00 and Rs 83.50 to close at Rs 10,700.00 and Rs 7,875.00, respectively. Unilever Foods and Indus Dyeing were the top losers with Rs 442.50 and Rs 15.70 to close at Rs 8,407.50 and Rs 750.55, respectively. Analysts said KSE on Wednesday opened its door for Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited via provisional trading where the stock closed at upper limit of Rs45.03 with only 3,500 shares traded. MLCF lost 2.4 percent as it posted a lower than expected result (EPS: Rs5.36) due to higher effective tax rate, they added.
LUCK again gained momentum due to reaction of local investors to its news of board’s approval of equity investment for its 660MW coal-based project. A bullish momentum was seen in pharma sector due to the recommendation of Chairman of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) to reduce tariffs on import of raw material (active ingredients) to zero, they maintained.
