Bearish trend persisted at the Karachi share market during the week ended on July 30, 2011, mainly due to selling by foreign investors. The KSE-100 index declined by 286.40 points, or 2.3 percent, and closed at 12,190.37 points. Trading remained low and the average daily volume at ready counter declined by 39 percent to 51.81 million shares as compared to previous week''s 85.06 million shares.
Market capitalisation declined by Rs 69 billion to Rs 3.220 trillion. Foreign investors remained on the selling side and withdrew shares worth $11.9 million from the market.
On Monday, the market opened under pressure and the index declined by 82.28 points to close at 12,394.49 points with very low volume of 32.820 million shares.
On Tuesday, the index lost 30.43 points to close at 12,364.06 points, with trading of 54.538 million shares. Bearish trend continued on Wednesday and the index lost 98.53 points to close at 12,265.53 points with 61.221 million shares.
On Thursday, the index declined by 167.48 points and closed at 12,098.05 points with 64.316 million shares.
The investors'' interest on low levels on Friday supported the index to recover 92.32 points to close the week at 12,190.37 points with 46.165 million shares.
"Despite strong quarterly earning announcements by key corporates, the market remained under pressure during the week", Rabia Tariq, an analyst at JS Global Capital, said, adding that foreign selling remained a major concern as equities worth $11.9 million were offloaded by them. However, a closer look suggested that this was not just confined to Pakistan''s market but the same trend was also witnessed in the regional markets.
In addition, investors exercised slight caution as they awaited the monetary policy announcement due over the weekend. Latest data suggested foreign sell-off of $600 million and $460 million in Taiwan and S Korean markets, respectively, while $69.3 million inflow was witnessed in India in the week.
Yawar-uz-Zaman at InvestCap said that the index faced bearish sentiment and closed on a negative note. The investors remained on sidelines amid concern of US debt issue, which might result in discontinuation of aid towards Pakistan.