RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Bears completed a weeklong domination of the Karachi share market Friday and the KSE-100 index lost another 131 points to close at 33,632.19 points. Profit-taking and post earnings consolidation were major drivers, analysts said. The benchmark index peaked to session high of 33,895.77 points and then hit the lowest 33,581.74 points in the process of trading.
The trading turnover at the ready-counter rose to 208 million shares from 170 million Thursday. The futures market, however, rallied well and saw 76 million contracts changing hands compared to 51 million of the previous session.
The foreign investors remained on the selling spree with their net offloading amounting to $ 5.91 million. The stocks traded gained value up to Rs 13 billion against Rs 8.58 billion of the earlier session.
Of the total 362 scrips traded, 107 appreciated, 237 lost their worth while 18 scrips remained unchanged. Market capital remained almost flat at Rs 7.61 trillion compared to the previous Rs 7.62 trillion.
Pak Elektron with 19.4 million of its listed shares traded led the day's volume. The scrip gained 17 paisa to close at Rs 60.50.
Other top performers included K-Electric that was traded by 15.6 million, Engro Fertilizer 12.9 million, Maple Leaf Cement 10.7 million, Engro Corp 9.9 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company 9.8 million, Faysal Bank 7.2 million, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 6.97 million, PIA 6.93 million and Bank of Punjab 5.9 million shares.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp observed post earnings consolidation in blue chip scrips across-the-board in the bearish session. He said rising political uncertainty, lower WTI crude oil prices, falling banking spreads and thin margins in cement sector impacted the sentiments.
The day's positives, the analyst said, were strong results in banking, cement and auto sector and indications for a further rate-cut in the State Bank's policy rate early next month amid falling PIB yields.
The bourse closed in negative after late selling in index heavyweight MCB Bank, Topline analyst Samar Iqbal said. "Continued profit-taking was seen in cement stocks as investors' expectation declined February sales," she added.
While the FABL and BAFL rallied after announcing better December results, the analyst saw institutional support to ENGRO and EFERT which posted healthy trading volumes. The analysts expect the share market to remain volatile in upcoming week primarily for lack of triggers.
