Investors booked profits on concerns for Moody’s downgrade of foreign and local currency bond ratings and Pakistan Banks deposit ratings despite strong corporate earnings outlook. This was said by Ahsan Mehanti, Director at Arif Habib Investments Limited.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index declined 3.72 points or 0.03 percent to close at 14, 564.49 points as compared to 14, 568.21 points of the previous session. The KSE 30-share index shed 4.29 points to close at 12, 623.90 points as compared with 12, 628.16 points. The market turnover remains negative and traded 96.121 million shares after opening at 164.996 million shares. The overall market capitalization declined 0.02 percent and traded Rs 3.717 trillion as against Rs 3.719 trillion. Losers outnumbered gainers 93 to 184, while 84 stocks were unchanged. Mehanti added “Pakistan Stocks closed bearish amid institutional profit taking on macro economic concerns.” The KMI 30-share was down by 37.43 points to close at 25, 019.71 points from its opening at 25, 057.14 points. The KSE all-share index closed with a loss of 6.56 points to 10, 245.25 points as against 10, 251.81 points. The Jahangir Siddiqui Company was the volume leader in the share market with 14.039 million shares as it closed at Rs 15.48 after opening at Rs 16.40. Azgard Nine traded 6.092 million shares as it closed at Rs 6.58 after opening Rs 7.18. Askari Bank traded 4.929 million shares as it closed at Rs 15.72 from its opening at Rs 14.82. K.E.S.C traded 8.821 million shares and closed at Rs 3.88 as against its opening at Rs 3.93. National Bank of Pakistan traded 3.651 million shares as it closed at Rs 45.39 as compared to its opening at Rs 46.07. He said that the Pakistan military aid cut by US, rising fiscal deficit and security unrest in the city played a catalyst role in bearish sentiment at KSE. On the future market, the turnover decreased by over three million shares 5.771 million against 8.651 million shares of Thursday. The Unilever Pakistan and Wyeth Pakistan Limited, up Rs 50.00 and Rs 20.70, led highest price gainers while, Rafhan Maize Prod and Nestle Pakistan Limited down Rs 109.66 and Rs 27.99 respectively, led the losers.
ISE-10 FLAT: Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE-10) here on Friday witnessed bullish trend as the index was up by 2.53 as compared to the previous day’s trading. Stock Analyst, AAH Pvt Ltd, Zaheer Ahmed told APP that the news of rescheduling the loans by Engro Corporation led the negative sentiments in the local stock market. Engro Corporation was scheduled to pay its loans but it could not do so owing to its inability to pay at this time, he said, adding this is temporary and the market will perform better in the future. However, the buying was seemed in the selected scrips, despite the investors preferred to be sideline, he added. Total volume of shares traded was 8,101, which was down by 262,999 as compared to a day earlier’s closing.
ASIAN MARKETS MIXED: Asian markets were mixed in early trade on Friday after impressive rallies in the previous session while investors took heart from another strong performance on Wall Street. Hong Kong added 0.22 percent by the break, Sydney was flat and Seoul rose 0.30 percent but Tokyo slipped 1.00 percent and Shanghai eased 0.42 percent. Shares on Japan’s Nikkei remained under pressure after the yen strengthened in New York against the greenback while it continued to stay strong against the euro. Wall Street saw a third day of gains on Thursday thanks to another round of upbeat earnings figures from some of the country’s biggest firms.
