KSE turns bearish

Karachi stocks remained bearish Friday with KSE-100 index shedding 120 more points amid falling trading turnover. The benchmark index slid to 33,672.72 points compared to 33,792.37 of Thursday. "Stocks closed bearish amid cautious activity ahead of SBP (monetary) policy (statement) announcements Saturday," Ahsan Mehanti, a director at Arif Habib Corp said.
The analyst said rising political noise under the National Action Plan, dismal exports data for Jul-Aug''15 and weak global stocks and commodities played a catalytic role in the institutional profit-taking on KSE. Ahmed Saeed Khan of JS Global said investors chose to book profits in the first session and remained sidelined in the session after the break. "Participation remained low as investors remained confused over the upcoming monetary policy," the analyst said.
The market remained strong in the first half, rallying by 225 points at its highest level, but then closed down 0.35 percent. Trading at the ready-counter shrank to 152 million shares from the previous 170 million. The prices of shares traded depreciated to Rs 6.57 billion compared to Rs 7.06 billion of last session. Overall, 381 scrips changed hands of which 160 posted gains, 198 lost their worth while 23 stayed unchanged. Foreign investors, having recently been withdrawing their cash from the emerging markets, remained jittery at Karachi bourse and sold portfolios worth $444,081, on net basis. The capitalisation of the country''s largest stock market depleted to Rs 7.247 trillion from Rs 7.266 trillion.
Dewan Cement led the volume counting its 11.6 million listed shares traded, each devaluing to Rs 17.84. Other best performing stocks were Pak Elektron 9.6 million, Azgard Nine 8.2 million, Descon Chemical 5.7 million, K-Electric 5.5 million, Maple Leaf Cement 5.4 million, Silk Bank 5.4 million, Pace Pakistan 5.2 million, TRG Pakistan 5.0 million and Jahangir Siddiqui Company 3.9 million shares. Trade on the futures market moved northward to close at 39.7 million contracts compared to Thursday''s 36 million. The central bank''s monetary policy is expected to set the direction for the volatile market in the upcoming week, analysts said.