RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange Tuesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 485.96 points to close at 45,979.70 points.
Trading activity also remained low as daily volumes on the ready counter decreased to 205.786 million shares as compared to 241.027 million shares traded Monday. Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $3.6 million.
The market capitalization declined by Rs 100 billion to Rs 9.531 trillion. Out of total 384 active scrips, 295 closed in negative, 75 in positive while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.
Summit Bank was the volume leader with 27.211 million shares. However, it lost Rs 0.66 to close at Rs 3.70 followed by K-Electric that decreased by Rs 0.39 to close at Rs 6.91 with 17.673 million shares. TRG Pak closed at Rs 43.45, down Rs 0.18 with 16.116 million shares.
Philip Morris Pak and Sanofi-Aventis were the top gainers with Rs 107.17 and Rs 74.04, respectively to close at Rs 2,693.15 and Rs 2,130.38. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top losers with Rs 370.00 and Rs 253.00, respectively to close at Rs 7,030.00 and Rs 6,224.00.
Maaz Mulla at JS Global Capital said that the market index likely plummeted owing to political noise, shedding 486 points to close at 45,980 points. Heavyweight stocks of the commercial banking sector dragged the KSE-100 index down by 56 points. UBL (down 1.49 percent), HBL (down 0.74 percent), ABL (down 1.02 percent) and NBP (down 0.33 percent) were among the major laggards from the sector. POL (up 1.20 percent) and PPL (up 0.19 percent) from the E&P sector gained points against the market sentiment as oil in the global market steadied after news of lower crude supplies from Saudi Arabia. Steel sector also lost points due to selling pressure where ISL (down 4.79 percent), ASTL (down 3.63 percent) and ASL (down 3.93 percent) were losers from the aforementioned sector.
An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 index slipped 1.05 percent amid political uncertainty; just in last 3 sessions, the market has lost
2.4 percent or 1,105 points.
Stocks including KEL (down 5.3 percent), ISL (down 4.6 percent), LUCK (down 1.3 percent), DGKC (down 2.5 percent) and PAEL (down 5.0 percent) contributed 116.8 points to index decline whereas PSO (up 5.0 percent), POL (up 1.7 percent) and PGF (up 5.0 percent) added 74 points to the index gain. PSO hit its upper limit on its result as the company announced surprised stock dividend of 20 percent; though earnings remained in line with expectations.
