RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a bearish trend as the investors opted for profit-taking on available margins.

Due to selling from local and foreign investors, the benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 326.50 points to close at 49,785.17 points.

Trading activity also remained low as daily trading volumes on the ready counter decreased to 381.346 million shares as compared to 399.458 million shares traded Monday. The market capitalization declined by Rs 10 billion to Rs 9.854 trillion.

Out of total 394 active scrips, 239 closed in negative, 138 in positive while the value of 17 stocks remained unchanged. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $6.2 million.

Engro Polymer was the volume leader with 30.920 million shares. It gained Rs 0.28 to close at Rs 29.13 followed by Summit Bank that increased by Rs 0.43 to close at Rs 4.75 with 29.786 million shares. Azgard Nine surged by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 14.12 with 28.706 million shares.

Rafhan Maize and Philip Morris Pak were the top gainers with Rs 150.00 and Rs 100.00, respectively to close at Rs 7,350.00 and Rs 2,700.00. Unilever Foods and Wyeth Pak were the top losers with Rs 140.00 and Rs 55.24, respectively to close at Rs 6,110.00 and Rs 2,471.51.

Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said that the market finally broke its bullish streak as the index lost around 326 points to close at 49,785 level after closing in the green zone for four consecutive trading sessions previously. However, INDU and PSMC in the automobile sector gained to close on their respective upper circuits on the back of their respective result announcements. MLCF (down 1.41 percent) lost value to close in the red zone as the cement company declared its result for nine months of FY17. SNGP (down 0.51 percent) declined as investors came in to book their profits in the gas utility after its 9MFY17 result announcement.

An analyst at Topline Securities said since the Panama verdict uncertainty unfolded, a bit of profit-taking was bound to happen and the KSE-100 index declined 0.7 percent, dipping back below 50,000 to close at 49,785 points. Downside contributors were ENGRO (down 2.3 percent), HUBC (down 2.5 percent), PPL (down 2.9 percent), SEARL (down 4.9 percent) and HBL (down 1.0 percent), eroding 225 points, while INDU (up 5.0 percent), THALL (up 5.0 percent), PAKT (up 4.9 percent), PSMC (up 5.0 percent) and MTL (up 2.4 percent), added 90.4 points to the index. Autos were the stand out performers with the sector adding 53 points to the index, on the back of outstanding earning results. Despite posting EPS of Rs 3.9 in third quarter of FY17 (in line with expectations), SNGP closed down 0.5 percent.