Bearish spell deepens

A bearish trend continued on Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 200.69 points to close at 49,191.75 points. Selling was seen from local investors, however foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $3.2 million. Trading activity also remained thin as daily trading volumes on the ready counter decreased to 182.738 million shares as compared to 220.426 million shares traded Thursday.
The market capitalisation declined by Rs 38 billion to Rs 9.697 trillion. Out of total 380 active scrips, 245 closed in negative, 121 in positive while the value of 14 stocks remained unchanged. TPL Trakker was the volume leader with 11.739 million shares. It closed at Rs 15.40, up Rs 0.01 followed by Bank of Punjab that lost Rs 0.26 to close at Rs 15.43 with 11.530 million shares. K-Electric decreased by Rs 0.15 to close at Rs 9.51 with 10.169 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Rafhan Maize were the top gainers with Rs 273.68 and Rs 50.00, respectively to close at Rs 5,747.36 and Rs 7,800.00. Wyeth Pak and Khyber Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 132.68 and Rs 33.70, respectively to close at Rs 2,521.03 and Rs 1,000.00. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that stocks closed sharply lower on pressure in scrips across the board on concerns for outcome of regulatory action over defaulting brokerages. Weak sentiment remained in the trading session on renewed concerns for foreign outflows, surging circular debt in energy sector and dismal payouts in the earnings season. He said surging trade deficit, reports of falling exports and consolidation post major earning announcements at PSX played a catalyst role in bearish close.
Arhum Ghous at JS Global Capital said that lackluster activity prevailed in the market as the index traded between an intraday high of 64 points and intraday low of 343 points to finally close at 49,192 level. The E&P sector lost value to close in the red zone as crude prices inched up on Friday after dropping to their lowest in more than three months the session before. OGDC (down 2.16 percent) and PPL (down 1.61 percent) were the major losers of the aforementioned sector. Fertilizer sector closed in the red zone on back of the news that the Ministry of National Food Security and Research has reportedly withheld imbursement to fertilizer companies against supply of fertilizer until audit of their claims are finalised and verified by the respective provinces. FATIMA (down 0.68 percent) was the major loser of the mentioned sector. Furthermore, mixed sentiments were witnessed in the Banking sector as NBP (up 0.70 percent) gained to close in the green zone, whereas on the flipside UBL (down 2.44 percent) and HBL (down 0.23 percent) weighed down the index.