The Karachi stocks market Monday slid to the months low on the back of what the equity analysts said the risk-averse investors’ concern for rising political uncertainty in Sindh province.
The first trading session of the week saw the benchmark KSE 100-share index shedding 426.57 points to close at 26,255.21 points against 26,681.78 points of last week on Friday. The dip, the market observers said, was the “sharpest” in past four and a half months.
“Stocks closed bearish amid concerns for rising political uncertainty in Sind province,” viewed analyst Ahsan Mehanti, a director at Arif Habib Corporation.
With intraday high and low standing, respectively, at 26,741.55 and 26,072.43 points, the trading turnover at the ready-counter was recorded at 287.513 million shares, slightly lower than Friday’s 287.640 million.
The values of the stocks traded, however, surged to Rs 8.423 billion from Rs 7.678 billion of the previous session. The market capital set in the red zone by contracting to Rs 6.375 trillion compared to Rs 6.482 trillion of last week. In terms of value, of the 398 scrips traded on the day only 56 could move upward. Some 326 lost while 16 remained unchanged.
Also, the free-float KSE-30 index was no exception and lost 269.44 points to close at 18,986.50 points.
“Concerns for outcome of peace talks with TTP, foreign selling in blue chip stocks and redemption by mutual fund investors triggered major sell-off at KSE despite record earning announcements in fertilizer, cements and banking sectors,” said Mehanti.
The analyst said that delays in privatization of State-Owned Entities and circular debt concerns in the energy sector also played a catalyst role in the day’s bearish activity.
“(The) index managed to recover from days’ low on hopes for economic stability after IMF approval on $545 million Extended Fund Facility, rise in local power tariff and rising exports data,” said he.
Topline analyst Asad I. Siddiqui said aggressive institutional selling led the market that decreased by 427 points despite positive news flows, like almost 10 percent increase in the country’s oil production and IMF’s upward revision of Pakistan’s GDP target.
The index heavy weights like OGDC, PPL, PSO, NBP, MCB, DKGC and LUCK amongst others closed in red, while the OGDC alone contributed 18 percent towards the market decline, said he.
“Despite such negativity, positive interest from investors was seen in EFERT and JSCL,” Asad said.
Jahangir Siddiqui Company appeared as a volume leader by counting 42.3 million of its listed shares having been traded on the day. The scrip gained 73 paisas to close at Rs 13.63 after opening at Rs 12.90.
Other best performing stocks included Fauji Cement, Engro Fertilizer, K-Electric Limited, Bank of Punjab (R), Pak Electron, DG Khan Cement, BankIslami Pakistan, Bank Al-Falah and Bank of Punjab.
On the futures market, the turnover shot up to 23.7 million shares compared to the previous 12.7 million.
