A bearish trend continued on the Karachi share market on Friday and the KSE-100 index lost 83.37 points to close at 11,606.86 points as investors opted to offload their holdings on available margins. Foreign investors withdrew $1.96 million from the equity market while the local investors also opted for profit taking. That forced the index in the deep red throughout the session.
Trading reduced and the volume at ready counter declined to 79.298 million shares as compared to 82.729 million shares traded on Thursday. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 22 billion to Rs 3.060 trillion. Of 329 active scrips, 136 closed in negative and 102 in positive, while the values of 91 stocks remained unchanged. Fatima Fertiliser Co was the volume leader with 10.670 million shares and gained Re 0.59 to close at Rs 17.77. In other fertiliser sector stocks, Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim increased by Re 0.68 to close at Rs 56.11 with 10.262 million shares while Engro Corp declined by Rs 3.81 to close at Rs 134.32 with 1.830 million shares.
Jahangir Siddiqui Co lost Re 0.36 to close at Rs 5.88 with 9.786 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA decreased by Re 0.24 to close at Rs 12.23 with 5.702 million shares. NBP declined by Rs 1.41 to close at Rs 46.04 with 3.966 million shares while Bank Al Falah inched up by Re 0.04 to close at Rs 10.57 with 3.232 million shares. DG Khan Cement lost Re 0.51 to close at Rs 20.39 with 2.724 million shares. Hub Power decreased by Re 0.36 to close at Rs 41.47 with 2.259 million shares. Azgard Nine closed at Rs 5.03, down Re 0.11 with 1.955 million shares.
Unilever Pak and Siemens Pak were highest gainers, increasing by Rs 119.26 and Rs 22.07 to close at Rs 5544.36 and Rs 936.26 respectively, while Nestle Pakistan and MCB Bank were worst losers, declining by Rs 50.45 and Rs 6.59 to close at Rs 3440.50 and Rs 173.84 respectively.
Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Co said that the tough stance by the US, threatening direct action against the terrorist network, along with severe meltdown in the international and regional equity markets, led to a negative opening. The bourse on massive low volume price erosion, led by frontline and expensive stocks, forced the index to undergo an adjustment of almost 2 percent during intra-day trade.
He said that with the unveiling of official plan, suggesting resolution of ballooned up circular debt on September 24, 2011, disregarding the US threats as mere pressure tactics, various participants from corporate and retail circuits came in for aggressive accumulation. This invited decent consolidation on dips in almost all front line stocks. Although the index kept floating in the red territory throughout the session due to unprecedented selling from offshore channels in singled out stocks, tough resistance was given to the bears, thereby restricting the onslaught, which otherwise would have pushed the index by miles.