Stocks shed more weight

Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under selling pressure on the fifth consecutive day Wednesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 233.23 points to close at 48,305.83 points. Daily trading volumes fell slightly to 206.112 million shares as compared to 195.127 million shares traded Tuesday. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 41 billion to Rs 9.532 trillion. Out of total 386 active scrips, 238 closed in negative, 132 in positive while the value of 16 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 47.638 million shares. It lost Rs 0.41 to close at Rs 9.15 followed by Aisha Steel Mills that closed at Rs 22.60, down Rs 0.06 with 11.189 million shares. Power Cement decreased by Rs 0.20 to close at Rs 19.08 with 9.633 million shares.
Wyeth Pak and Philip Morris Pak were the top gainers with Rs 113.76 and Rs 98.54, respectively to close at Rs 2,389.00 and Rs 2,259.69. Unilever Foods and Exide Pak were the top losers with Rs 150.00 and Rs 18.87, respectively to close at Rs 6,100.00 and Rs 818.10.
Arhum Ghous at JS Global Capital said that volatility prevailed at the local bourse as the benchmark KSE-100 index traded between an intraday high of 228 points and intraday low of 329 points to finally close at 48,306 level. KEL (down 4.29 percent) and SSGC (down 1.09 percent) closed in the red zone on the back of the news that Abraaj Group will not be able to conclude KEL deal with Shanghai Electric within the stipulated time due to its failure to settle financial due with SSGC and NTDC and would now require extension from Shanghai Electric and SECP. UBL (up 3.02 percent) in the banking sector shed value as investors remained skeptical over market noise regarding the bank. Moreover, PAEL (down1.53 percent) lost value to close in the red zone as the company declared its year end result for 2016, posting an EPS of Rs 7.51/share which was lower than the street estimate. This year end result was accompanied by a final cash dividend of Rs 1.75/share. FFC (up 0.70 percent) in the fertilizer sector closed in the green on the back of the news that HUBC has planned to divest its 40 percent stake in Thar Energy Limited (TEL) by offering 30 percent of its stake to FFC and 10 percent stake to China Machinery Engineering Company (CMEC).
An analyst at Topline Securities said the KSE-100 index retreated further, declining 233 points or 0.5 percent, primarily weighed down by the big banks HBL (down 1.3 percent), UBL (down 3.0 percent) and MCB (down 0.54 percent) which eroded 126 points from the index, likely a combination of declining crude prices boding negatively on inflation outlook coupled with the industry spill-over effects of rumours circulating of negligence leading to a management shake-up. HUBC decided to divest 40 percent of its stake in Thar Energy (TEL) to Fauji Fertilizer (30 percent) and Chinese Machinery Engineering Corp (up to 10 percent), which led FFC to gain 0.7 percent, while HUBC declined by 1.2 percent as reduced stake in TEL would trim earnings & valuations. Mughal Steel declared 100 percent right offer at par to finance expansion projects worth Rs 1.75 billion, the stock hit it''s upper limit.