RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: The Karachi Share Market continued to post a negative trend as investors booked profits in selected stocks across the board on prevailing political uncertainty and the benchmark KSE-100 lost another 42 points on Thursday to close at 30,094 points compared to 30,136 points on Wednesday.
Analysts said that the Karachi Stock Market witnessed a range bound activity after a positive start. The ADBs’ lower than expected commitments to projects in Pakistan and an anticipated delay in the IMF’s fourth tranche hit sentiments, they added.
Commenting on the market, Samar Iqbal, Assistant Vice President Equity Sales Topline Securities, said that consolidation was seen in overall market however a rally in mid cap stock continued.
“The market lost 42 points to close at 30,094 points level at the end of the day, while trading value declined to $83 million or Rs 8.25 billion,” she added.
She said that an institutional activity was seen in UBL and the investors also bought Lafarge Pak in the expectation of post acquit ion buy back.
During the intra-day trading, the KSE-100 index also reached 30,192 points highest and 30,047 points lowest level. Despite the negative trend, the volume at the ready counter moved upward side and overall some 186.6 million shares were traded on Thursday against 153.4 million shares in the previous session.
The market capitalisation declined by Rs 8 billion to Rs 7.009 trillion down from Rs 7.018 trillion. The trading took place in 397 companies, of which 216 posted positive growth, whereas 160 closed with negative signs. Rates of 21companies remained unchanged.
Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Securities, said that the stocks closed lower amid cautious activity ahead of the SBP policy rate decision this week.
Trade remained in the second and third tier stocks amid concerns for pending over Rs230bn circular debt in energy sector, he added.
Cement stocks remained in limelight on rising local prices and expected reconstruction activities due to floods in Punjab. Higher banking spreads, reports on rising Urea off-take played a catalyst role in bullish activity at KSE, he said.
Among top 10 volume leaders, five companies posted positive trend. Lafarge Pak topped the volume gainers with 41.46 million shares, up by Re 0.88 to close at Rs 17.07. Askari Bank stood the second, up by Re 0.08 to close at Rs 21.88 on 10.8 million shares. Bank Al-Falah ranked the third and closed at Rs 28.65, down by Re 0.19 on 8.5 million shares.
Pak Elektron Ltd posted a positive trend, moving up by Re 0.15 to close at Rs 29.34 on 8.1 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement with 6.6 million shares, rose by Rs 0.17 to close at Rs 27.98. Pioneer Cement gained Re 0.56 to close at Rs 53.03 on 6.2 million shares. TPL Trakker Ltd. moved down by Re 0.28 to close at Rs 10.87 on 5.7 million shares. United BankXD declined by Rs 1.99 to close at Rs 190.41 on 5.2 million shares. With a trading volume of 4.6 million shares, DGK Cement closed at Rs 82.57, down by Re 0.65 and K-Electric Ltd. lost Re 0.06 to close at Rs 8.23 on 4.2 million shares.
Rafhan MaizeXD and Siemens Pakistan were the top gainers with Rs 535.00 and Rs 49.88 to close at Rs 11,235.00 and Rs 1,078.56, respectively. Unilever Foods and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers with Rs 57.50 and Rs 51.00 to close at Rs 8,350.00 and Rs 1,450.00, respectively.
Analysts said that the cement sector charmed investors led by LPCL (+5.4%) and LUCK (+2.3%). Lafarge Cement was the volume leader today jumping to a 5 year high as the investors jumped in to avail an arbitrage opportunity to sell into an expected tender offer, they added.
The second day of provisional trading of Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited saw the stock close at upper limit of Rs47.28 with just 2,500 shares traded, they said. “We recommend a defensive strategy with a preference for high dividend yield stocks due to the uncertain political environment,” they suggested.
