RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: A bearish momentum pervaded the Karachi share market Wednesday with trading volumes remaining significantly low under the lead of blue chips.
The KSE-100 share index lost another 50.16 points to close at 33,845.30 points compared to 33,895.46 points Tuesday.
"Stocks closed bearish amid thin trade at KSE led by oil, cement and banking stocks on weak earnings outlook," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp. Even upbeat earnings in banking, pharma and cement sector stocks announced in the trading session could not help the benchmark index rally.
With intraday high and low standing at 34,017.42 and 33,825.29 points, the trading turnover plunged to 141 million shares from the previous 167 million.
Foreign investors offloaded their portfolios with net selling accumulating to $ 0.622 million. The value of the stocks traded also landed in the red zone at Rs 6.96 billion compared to Tuesday's Rs 8.78 billion.
Of the total 368 scrips traded, 131 appreciated, 218 depreciated while 19 remained unchanged. The market capital contracted to Rs 7.615 trillion from Rs 7.625 trillion.
Jahangir Siddiqui Company with 12 million of its shares traded led the day's volume. The scrip shed two paisa to close at Rs 22.05.
Other best performers were PIA trading by 9.7 million, Lafarge Pakistan 9.6 million, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 7.3 million, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim 6.3 million, Power Cement 5.6 million, Bank of Punjab 5.6 million, Maple Leaf Cement 5.4 million, Engro Fertilizer 4.8 million and Pak Elektron 4.8 million shares.
Trading on the futures market also declined to 34.63 million contracts from 45.52 million of last session.
Mehanti said lower international oil prices, falling local cement prices amid rumours on cartel break-up and falling banking spreads near 5.8pc played a catalytic role in the day's bearish activity. Muhammad Mobeen at JS Research observed that the market remained under pressure throughout the day with significantly lower volumes.
Toyota Japan's show of interest in increasing its stake in its subsidiaries up to 80 percent was the day's significant news that reflected positively on INDU that hit its upper circuit during the first half.
The oil and gas stocks remained under pressure for fluctuation in global crude oil prices with PAEL and PIBTL witnessing profit-taking to lose 1.3 and 1.9 percent.
In cement sector, the negative sentiment expressed through DGKC's expansion policy continued as most significant scrips remained under pressure and ended in the red. The news of GIDC being approved by the National Assembly further dampened the sentiment in major cement scrips, Mobeen said.
Moving forward, the market is expected to remain under pressure.
