PSX remains under pressure

Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended June 14, 2018 due to selling in various sectors before long Eid holidays. BRIndex100 lost 35.3 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,685.09 points. Average daily volumes stood at 104.083 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 284.16 points during the week to close at 23,139.02 points with average daily turnover of 80.120 million shares.
The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 267.43 points on week-on-week basis to close at 43.680.68 points. Trading activity remained thin as average daily volumes on the ready counter decreased by 28.3 percent to 131.84 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 183.79 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 28.6 percent to Rs 6.46 billion.
Foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $4.45 million during this week as compared to an outflow of $29.55 million in previous week. The market capitalization declined by Rs 59 billion to Rs 8.977 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said lacking any major triggers in the last week of Ramazan; the market remained in lackluster most part of the current week (slipping 267 points) to close the benchmark KSE-100 index at 43,681pts, down 0.61 percent on week-on-week basis. Rising macroeconomic vulnerabilities on account of sharp Pak Rupee depreciation against US$ (falling 4 percent), soaring trade deficits to all-time high of $33.89 billion in 11 months of FY18 (up13.4 percent on year-on-year) and increase in local petroleum product prices (rose 4-7 percent) were the major culprit behind the overall dull performance of the market during the week.
Performance leaders during the week were ENGRO (up 3.66 percent), NML (up 3.29 percent), PSO (up 3.21 percent), OGDC (up 2.87 percent) and PPL (up 2.34 percent); while laggards included ASTL (down 9.95 percent), MLCF (down 8.99 percent), DGKC (down 8.35 percent), PIOC (down 7.52 percent) and FCCL (down 6.83 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the market exhibited an overall bearish trend during the week. The impact of the plunge in Pak Rupee reverberated across the market. Import dependent sectors felt the heat, which included Cements (down 5.4 percent), Automobiles (down 5.1 percent), Refineries (down 1.7 percent) and Pharmaceuticals (down 1.5 percent). Key performing stocks during the week included MEBL (up 12.5 percent), PSO (up 3.2 percent), NML (up 3.3 percent), ENGRO (up 3.7 percent) and OGDC (up 2.9 percent).