Mixed trend on KSE

With mixed trend prevalent at the stock market during the week ended on June 3, 2011, the KSE-100 index closed at 12,236.66 points with a meagre gain of 11.14 points. The market remained in the grip of budget-related uncertainties throughout the week as all eyes remained on the budget related news flow, which drove investor sentiment, analysts said.
Trading improved, and average daily volume at ready counter increased to 102.93 million shares, or by 24.2 percent, compared to previous week's 82.89 million shares.
Market capitalisation increased by Rs 10 billion to Rs 3.251 trillion. Foreign investors continued to be net buyers of shares worth $7.1 million, while mutual funds came out as net sellers of $5.9 million.
On Monday, the market opened under pressure and the index declined by 29.93 points to close at 12,195.59 points with volume of 120.596 million shares.
On Tuesday, the index lost 72.44 points to close at 12,123.15 points with 123.103 million shares.
On Wednesday, some budget-related positive news invited fresh buying and the index increased by 140.91 points to close at 12,264.06 points with 118.307 million shares.
On Thursday, investors opted for selling and the index lost 84.25 points to close at 12,179.81 points with 87.311 million shares.
On Friday, the index recovered 56.85 points and closed the week at 12,236.66 points with 65.315 million shares.
Rabia Tariq, analyst at JS Global Capital, said that all eyes remained on the budget related news flow, which drove investor sentiment through the week. The volume witnessed improvement by 24 percent on rumours that the government may switch capital gain tax (CGT) with transaction tax for individuals.
Refineries and OMCs remained in the limelight on news of partial deregulation of petroleum prices. The Economic Survey was also released, with FY11 GDP growth reported at 2.4 percent.
The oil and gas sector gained 1.7 percent the Ministry of Petroleum partially deregulated local prices of key petroleum products. This would allow companies to determine monthly product prices. Refineries are to be the key beneficiaries of this with ATRL gaining 4.6 percent and NRL 3.4 percent on a weekly basis. Moreover, banks remained underperformers on concerns over rising NPLs along with IPPs as the circular debt continues to create cash flow woes.