RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Tuesday closed lower following institutional profit-taking in select stocks across-the-board. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 190 points to close at 33,533 points down from 33,723 points Monday.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Securities said a bearish activity was witnessed post quarter end corporate earnings announcements at KSE amid institutional profit-taking in select stocks. He said favourable headline inflation data for April 2015, POL Tal block hydrocarbon discovery and late session recovery in international crude oil prices supported the index to close above session lows.
In addition, political noise and pre-budget uncertainty played a catalytic role in the bearish activity at KSE ahead of SBP policy rate announcement due later this month, he added.
Fahad Hussain Khan of Adam Securities said correction continued at the local bourse to give a breather to bulls. Major overvalued stocks of cement, fertilizer and power generation and distribution corrected their prices amid profit-taking.
He said that lower CPI has raised hopes for another discount rate cut which may trigger the market for new levels in coming days.
On the second day of the week, volumes clocked in at 172 million shares, down by 16 percent. Trading value at the local bourse decreased to Rs 10.5 billion against Rs 14.8 billion in the previous session. Out of 352 active scrips, 104 went up, 229 went down while that of 19 scrips remained unchanged.
Among top 10 volume leaders, eight companies closed negative. Engro Fert XD emerged the volume leader with 22.4 million shares, losing Rs 1.92 to close at Rs 86.81. K-Electric stood second, up Re 0.21 to close at Rs 7.77 on 18.6 million shares. Byco Petroleum ranked third with 9.4 million shares, losing Re 0.58 to Rs 11.63. Some 8.6 million shares of B.O.Punjab were traded and the scrip fell by Re 0.30 to Rs 9.33.
D.G.Khan Cement lost Rs 3.72 to Rs 133.07 on 8.6 million shares. Some 8 million shares of Fauji Cement were traded and the scrip closed at Rs 33.29, down Re 0.48. P.I.A.C (A) declined by Re 0.02 to Rs 9.18 on 7.61 million shares. Arif Habib Corp closed at Rs 40.58, up Rs 1.89 on 7.2 million shares.
With a trading volume of 6.2 million shares, Pak Elektron declined Re 0.43 to Rs 61.26 and Jah. Sidd. Co closed at Rs 20.12, down Re 0.43 on 5.7 million shares.
Colgate Palmolive and Abbot Lab XD were the top gainers with Rs 30.00 and Rs 21.33 to close at Rs 1,530.00 and Rs 595.54, respectively. Rafhan Maize and Siemens Pak were the top losers with Rs 144.00 and Rs 43.00 to close at Rs 9,056.00 and Rs 1,086.00, respectively.
Umair Hasan of JS said that political uncertainty post disqualification of Railways Minister led to lacklustre volumes in the market on Tuesday. The market went down by as much as 339 points intra-day as sellers dominated the index with most sectors taking the hit.
Expectations of cut in policy rate on record-low CPI of 2.11%YoY for April, was taken negatively by the banking sector in general with scrips namely FABL, HBL, BAFL ending 0.64 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.5 percent lower, respectively.
After the recent rally in cement scrips, profit-taking was witnessed as FCCL, LUCK, MLCF and DGKC ended -1.4 percent., -1.1 percent, -0.4 percent and -2.7 percent, respectively. However, the discount rate cut will benefit highly leveraged cement firms providing an opportunity to buy value cement stocks on dips. In the Oil and Gas sector, recovery in global oil prices translated into a recovery in oil stocks as PSO, HASCOL and ATRL increased by 0.1 percent 4.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
Commenting on the market, Mohammad Rizwan Vice President Topline Securities said investors are continuously trimming their portfolios after election tribunal gave verdict of irregularities on one of the ruling party’s National Assembly seat for elections held in 2013. However, future rollover of ENGRO, PSO, FFC and UBL also remained in focus.
