Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure during the outing week ended on April 28, 2017 due to selling by both local and foreign investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 407.75 points or 0.8 percent on week-on-week basis and closed at 49,300.90 points.
Trading activities, however, improved as average daily trading volumes increased by 29.1 percent to 358.54 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 277.66 points. Average daily trading value surged by 7.4 percent to Rs 17.77 billion.
Total market capitalisation increased by Rs 66 billion to Rs 9.835 trillion. The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $10.71 million as compared to an outflow of $31.97 million in the previous week.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that having recovered 4.5 percent last week, KSE-100 went back into the red zone with the index losing 408 points on week-on-week basis to close at 49,301. "We believe this is on account of new disclosure requirements by the SECP, and continued political uncertainty with regards to Panamagate JIT with futures rollover week further aggravating the decline," he added.
Average daily traded volumes inched up by over 29 percent with EPCL (109.5 million shares), ASL (101.9 million shares), ANL (88.4 million shares), SMBL (83.7 million shares) and TRG (72.9 million shares) leading the board.
Performance leaders during the week were AGTL (up 19.9 percent), PSMC (up 19.9 percent), INDU (up 16.3 percent), ASTL (up 7.6 percent) and HCAR (up 7.3 percent); while laggards included PPL (down 8.8 percent), EFERT (down 6.4 percent), NCL (down 6.3 percent), NML (down 5.7 percent) and CHCC (down 5.4 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the outgoing week witnessed profit taking as investors shied away from fresh investments amidst growing political uncertainty. Mutual funds again turned out to be the largest buyers of equities with net buying of $19.2 million compared to last week''s massive buying of $78 million. Of the key performers Autos (up 10 percent), Glass and Ceramics (up 9 percent), Refineries (up 2 percent) and Chemicals (up 2 percent) were noteworthy contributors towards the green points, whereas Oil & Gas (down 4 percent), Cements (down 1.0 percent) and Fertilizers (down 4 percent) remained major underperformers. Investors'' interest is expected to pick-up ahead of the MSCI review on May 15, 2017, however progress on JIT formed by the Supreme Court will also remain a key driver of market performance going forward.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the investors looked to close-up shop and book gains ahead of the long weekend as Post-Panama excitement faded and triggers dried up amid the dull earnings season (barring autos). Laggards were PPL (down 8.8 percent), HUBC (down 5 percent), ENGRO (down 4 percent), FFC (down 5.1 percent) and SEARL (down 8.3 percent) eroding 474 points, while leaders were INDU (up 16 percent), PSMC (up 20 percent), PAKT (up 18.2 percent), PAEL (up 10 percent) and MTL (up 6.1 percent), with positive contribution of 289 points. In terms of earnings, HUMNL (up 13 percent) and GHGL (up 11 percent) gained on the back of stellar results, while FEROZ (down 15 percent) and CSAP (down 11 percent) tanked on a weak quarter.
Within the sectors; Tobacco, Autos, Glass & Auto-parts, outperformed the broader market, gaining between 9.9-6.5 percent; while Fertilisers, Power and Cements underperformed with negative return in the range of 2.3-0.9 percent.