Stocks stay depressed

A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange on the second consecutive day Wednesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 188.90 points to close at 42,622.37 points. Trading activity also remained thin as the daily trading volumes declined to 394.186 million shares as compared to 585.214 million shares traded Tuesday.
The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 25 billion to stand at Rs 8.696 trillion. Out of total 414 active scrips, 246 closed in negative, 153 in positive while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged. Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 37.240 million shares. It at Rs 19.51, down Rs 0.01 followed by Pace (Pak) that gained Rs 0.38 to close at Rs 13.16 with 24.268 million shares. Aisha Steel Mill increased by Rs 0.10 to close at Rs 14.93 with 22.398 million shares.
Philip Morris Pak and Bata Pak were the top gainers with Rs 82.44 and Rs 61.03, respectively to close at Rs 2193.55 and Rs 4394.08 while Wyeth Pak and Island Textile were the top losers with Rs 88.63 and Rs 61.47, respectively to close at Rs 4243.00 and Rs 1168.15.
An analyst at Global Securities said that the local bourse remained under pressure throughout the day in anticipation of the result of Panama case hearing. As a result the market slipped by 188.9 points. Major profit taking was witnessed in the banking and cement sectors, possibly due to continued foreign selling on the back of further appreciation of USD against PKR. MCB, PSO, PAKT, THALL and POL supported the index most by 54.86 points. Increased activity was seen in POL after it released the notice about the commencement of production from Mardankhel-01 well. Nabeel Haroon, at JS Global Capital said that pressure was witnessed in the market as the index shed around 189 points. Textile sector continued its downward trajectory to close 0.8 percent lower from its previous day close on the back of APTMA call to shut down mills by December 06. NML and NCL were major losers in this sector. PPL and OGDC in the E&P sector lost value to close in the red zone, as sceptical investors preferred to be on the sideline fearing continuous foreign selling.