Oil stocks lead decline

Equities tumbled Monday by 0.88 percent because of what analysts said a steep fall in international crude oil prices which slipped to $35 per barrel on the first day of the week. Dipping to as low as 32,497.71 in intraday trade, the KSE-100 index shed 291 points to settle at 32,757.82 points compared to Friday''s 33,048.514 points, the session high.
Trading turnover also moved southward 24 percent to 144 million shares from 189 million of last week. The value of stocks traded showed the same downward trend and shrank by seven percent to Rs 7.31 billion. Of the 323 issues traded, only 71 ended up in the green, 236 lost their worth while 16 remained unchanged. The market cap inched down to Rs 6.88 trillion. Foreign investment also remained in the negative territory and marked net selling of $0.579 million.
SSGC, which slid 4.7 percent to close the day at Rs 42.44, was the most traded stock among the 10 best performing issues. "SSGC and SNGPL remained under pressure as investors expect further delay in the financial results of the two gas utilities," viewed Topline analyst. SNGPL lost 4.4 percent with 5.6 million shares trading.
Volume for Bank of Punjab stood at 14 million, TRG Pakistan 9.8 million, JSCL 8.7 million, Pace Pakistan 7.5 million, Pak Elektron 6.4 million, K-Electric 4.0 million, Silk Bank 3.9 million and Treet Corp 3.1 million shares. Trade in futures contracts contracted to 33.5 million from the previous 35.8 million. "Stocks fell sharply after plunge in global crude prices near to $35 per barrel," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
Analysts at Topline Research said following a sombre trend on regional markets, due to weak global oil prices, the KSE index ended in the red. Major decline, they said, was seen in index-heavyweight oil stocks as Oil and Gas Development Company and Pakistan Petroleum Limited which fell 2.9 and 3.9 percent. Lucky Cement, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim and Fauji Fertiliser Company shed 1.2, 0.4 and 0.8 percent on the back of reports that the government may increase gas prices. This, analysts opined, shook investor confidence in cement and fertiliser stocks.
"Political controversies on security issues in Sindh, foreign selling in oil stocks, falling remittances, weak exports data played a catalytic role in the bearish activity," said Mehanti. This, he said, was despite expectations for major developments on foreign relations after launch of $10 billion TAPI pipeline project.