Equities retreat

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Wednesday witnessed a volatile session with the KSE-100 index moving between 49,146.78 points intra-day high and 48,960.60 points intra-day low level. The index closed at 49,016.79 points, with a marginal loss of 3.42 points. The local investors opted to book profit on available margins, however foreign investors emerged net buyers of shares worth $3.8 million that supported the index to close above intra-day low.
Trading activity improved as the daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased by 41 percent to 317.794 million shares as compared to 225.178 million shares traded Tuesday. The market capitalisation increased by Rs 18 billion to Rs 9.640 trillion. Out of total 410 active scrips, 213 closed in positive, 183 in negative while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 50.079 million shares. However, the scrip lost Rs 0.46 to close at Rs 8.41 followed by Bank of Punjab that increased by Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 17.27 with 29.132 million shares. Azgard Nine gained Rs 0.82 to close at Rs 11.33 with 22.914 million shares. Wyeth Pak and Millat Tractors were the top gainers with Rs 143.16 and Rs 58.19, respectively to close at Rs 3,006.47 and Rs 1,287.18. Rafhan Maize and Unilever Foods were the top losers with Rs 100.00 and Rs 85.00, respectively to close at Rs 7,600.00 and Rs 6,110.00.
Arhum Ghous at JS Global Capital said the market opened on a positive note, maintaining its previous session trend, while the index traded at an intraday high of plus 127 points before making an intraday low of minus 59 points. KEL closed in the red on news from National Electric Power Regulatory Authority announcing a 7-year tariff for KEL, slashing average tariffs by Rs 3.50/unit (by 23 percent). Moreover, oil prices slipped back to 3-month low after data showed faster-than-expected rise in U.S. crude inventories, piling pressure on Opec to extend output cuts beyond June. PPL (down 0.45 percent) was the major laggard in E&P sector. PAEL (up 2.44 percent) closed positive as the National Transmission and Dispatch Company is upgrading transmission of power system in different parts of the country as per need and load of consumers. By end of 2018, it is expected to achieve the target of transmitting 30,000MW electricity. Mixed sentiment was witnessed in Pharmaceuticals where GLAXO (down 1.72 percent) and ABOT (down 0.21 percent) closed in the red zone as National Accountability Bureau has begun an inquiry into recent drug price hikes, sale of unregistered stents at high prices and absence of medicine records.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Securities said that stocks closed flat amid late session pressure in oil stocks after fall in global crude prices and concerns for major fall in global equities. Investors interest in second and third tier stocks in engineering, cement and auto sectors supported the index to close above session lows. He said concerns for leverage issues, dismal exports data on textiles for July-February 2017 and uncertainty over outcome of Panamagate case hearings played a catalyst role in bearish activity.