RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Triggered by monetary easing, Monday’s bull-run on the Karachi share market proved short-lived Tuesday, which equity analysts tied to the pre-budget uncertainty.
The KSE-100 index, falling by 197 points to 32,510.35, showed volatility by touching the session’s high and low of 32,771.12 and 32,418.61.
“Stocks closed bearish amid thin activity on pre-budget uncertainty,” commented Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation.
At the ready-counter, the trading turnover was recorded at 98.52 million shares compared to 179.13 million of the previous day.
Value of the scrips traded witnessed contraction to Rs 6.33 billion against previous Rs 10.55 billion. Of the total 326 issues traded, only 107 ended up in green, 195 in red while 24 remained unchanged. The market capitalisation also moved southward and accumulated to Rs 7.078 trillion compared to the previous Rs 7.099 trillion.
The foreign portfolio investment stood positive with net buying of $ 187,109.
Pak Elektron, up 2.1 percent to Rs 67.01, kept leading the day’s volumes and counted its 23.28 million listed shares traded.
Other top performers were Habib Bank 4.9 million, Fauji Cement 4.5 million, Maple Leaf Cement 4.1 million, Byco Petroleum 3.88 million, Bank of Punjab 3.82 million, K-Electric 3.3 million, Ghani Automobiles 2.7 million, Treet Corporation (R) 2.6 million and Treet Corporation 1.8 million shares.
The trading activity on the futures market was positive as more than 58.76 million contracts were traded from 56.55 million of Monday.
Mehanti noted the banking scrips staying weak on the back of what he said falling spreads after the State Bank slashed discount rate by one percent Saturday. The MCB, BAHL, FABL and BAFL faced a loss in the range of 1.12 to 2.3 percent.
The cement stocks battered on uncertainty over the government’s unexpected commitments on Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in the new federal budget to be unveiled on June 5.
“Security unrest in the city and drop in global crude prices played a catalytic role in the bearish activity,” said Mehanti.
Topline analyst Mohammad Rizwan attributed the dull activity to investors who preferred to remain sidelined days before the new fiscal plan and future roll-over.
“Investors took fresh positions in Pak Elektron amid aggressive future plans revealed by the management in their security analyst briefing yesterday,” the analyst observed.
