KARACHI: The market dwindled by 35 points today and closed at 11,171 levels. A total of 155 million shares were traded as investors opted to book profits in key oil stocks.
A bull run at the local bourse was cut short by a mild correction of 35 points or 0.31 percent in today’s trading session as the index closed at 11,171 levels.
Following a massive gain of 3.05 percent in the last three trading sessions, before and after Eid, profit booking was inevitable in order to attract more investors to stay long at current index level.
Participation increased to 155 million shares as compared to an average 84 million traded in the last three sessions, while the benchmark index traversed 107 points today, showing a widespread indecisive mood prevalent in the aftermath of wild northbound winds at the local bourse. An ADR of 0.84x was observed in today’s sessions while the volume leader’s board depicted a greener picture than the overall market.
The oil and gas sector led gains in the previous session, profit booking in the same, dulled the index and pulled it downwards. Barring APL and BYCO, all the oil and gas sector scrips closed in the red zone, while BYCO also made it to the volume leader’s board. Minor gains allowed fertiliser giants to close in the positive range while the banking sector also showed muted movements in stock prices.
Lack of positive triggers may invite further correction before surging commodity prices took the benchmark index skywards again. Amongst E and P stocks, POL remained under selling pressure throughout the day and closed at Rs 265.46, down 1.1 percent, followed by OGDC which lost 1.6 percent. PSO too saw some selling pressure at inflated levels and closed at Rs 285.10, down 1.7 percent.
On the contrary, NML remained highly sought after advancing 4.1 percent as local cotton prices eased to Rs 8,500/maund. JSCL once again remained amongst the volume leaders and gained 6.6 percent due to market rumors of foreign interest.
Although the benchmark stayed under pressure, the local participants were seemingly trading at improved capacities, economic and financial woes along with threat of hike in local interest rates.
The trading horizon stayed restricted, high quantum and low spread trades in volume leaders, besides generating turnover kept the day traders active.
LSE drops 27.1 points
LAHORE: The Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) remained bearish on Tuesday marked by a decent turnover. The LSE 25-shares index squeezed 27.1 points to close at 3,510.24 against its opening at 3,537.34 levels.
Volume of the market increased by 2.51 million shares and stayed 8.91 million shares. Out of 121 active scrips, 28 gained, 31 declined and 62 showed no change in their opening values.
Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with a turnover of 2.5 million shares while it declined by Rs 0.04 to close at Rs 11.84 against its opening at Rs 11.88. Byco Petroleum, with a turnover of 1.37 million shares, accumulated Rs 0.48 to close at Rs 12.07 against its opening at Rs 11.59.
Millat Tractors was the major gainer, as it added Rs 6.85 to close at Rs 492.35 against its opening at Rs 485.50. MCB Bank also followed suit and added Rs 2.83 to close at Rs 209.12 against its opening at Rs 206.29. PSO was the major loser as it declined Rs 5.89 to close at Rs 284.93 against its opening at Rs 290.82.
PPL also suffered a decline of Rs 3.40 and closed at Rs 198.28 against its opening at Rs 201.68. Staff Report
