Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under heavy pressure during the outgoing week ended on May 18, 2018 due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 230.87 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,420.88 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 101.040 million shares.
BRIndex30 decreased by 1120.4 points to close at 22,218.16 points with average daily turnover of 69.638 million shares.
Pakistan's benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 1971.27 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 41,623.52 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 31.3 percent to 114.91 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 167.37 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 21.7 percent to Rs 5.13 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $19.97 million during this week as compared to an outflow of $4.13 million in previous week. Total market capitalization decreased by Rs 333 billion to Rs 8.640 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said that the ongoing political instability further fueled by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's controversial comments coupled with looming macro headwinds dampened investor sentiments with the benchmark KSE-100 closing at 41,624 points, down 4.52 percent.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the market remained in shambles for the third consecutive week in a row with benchmark KSE-100 index splashing red on the screen in all trading sessions. Bears slammed volatile political climate post controversial comments by ex-PM Nawaz Sharif made over the weekend on Mumbai terror attack as it added towards overall uncertainty surrounding the upcoming general elections.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said as a surprise interview published over the last weekend highlighted the ousted ex-PM's ongoing campaign, fresh political concerns bruised investor confidence. Evidently, the local bourse delivered a week marked in bold red, losing 1,971 points / 4.5 percent on week-on-week basis.
The current political setup hangs by a thread as its five year mandate period ends come May 31st, 2018. "We do highlight that closing of the prior week also legitimized a technical correction of the index, albeit, debate on the domestic political front remained the key catalyst for market dip," he said. Furthermore, the 2018 Semi-Annual Review by MSCI remained a non-event with Pakistan's weight in the EM witnessing no change.
Pertinently, sector-wise selling at the KSE-100 index was led by commercial banks (eroding 346 points from the benchmark index) amid foreign selling, Cements (down 304 points) as coal crossed the $100/ton mark, Fertilizer (down 273 points) given profit taking, E&P companies (down 229 points) and OGMCs (down 134 points). Meanwhile, scrip-wise laggards remained LUCK (down 167 points), HBL (down 118 points), ENGRO (down 117 points), PPL (down 94 points) and NESTLE (down 87 points).