Stocks edged lower on Karachi Stock Exchange Thursday as investors trimmed their positions amid a poor law and order situation in the city. The benchmark KSE-100 index shed 35 points to close at 29,417.20 points against 29,452.23 points Wednesday. Samar Iqbal, AVP at Topline Securities, said due to prevailing weak law and order situation in the city, the benchmark index lost its initial gains after investors preferred to trim their positions.
Index heavyweights - OGDC, POL and PSO - remained supportive. United Bank saw heavy battering closing 5 percent down ahead of the Privatisation Commission meeting for government offering, she added. Engro and Lucky also closed 2 percent and 1 percent down, respectively. PTC on the other hand rallied after the Finance Minister's briefing of land transfer to Etisalat. Autos and textile continued rallying post budgetary measures, she added.
During the intra-day trading, the index touched 29,693.25 points highest and 29,332.57 points lowest level. Volume at the ready counter remained on the lower side, decreasing to 248.344 million shares compared to previous 260 million shares. Market capitalisation lost Rs 2 billion to Rs 6.958 trillion against Rs 6.960 trillion. Analyst Ramella Maghnani at Aba Ali Habib, said the local bourse witnessed post-budget optimism, therefore, KSE-100 index rallied. However, later in the day due to prevailing law and order situation, the benchmark KSE-100 index headed in the direction of the profit-taking, she added.
She said the impact of federal budget 2014-15 was seen as positive predominantly in cement, OMCs and refineries whereas a negative impact was observed in chemical. Trading took place in 369 companies, of which 153 posted positive growth, whereas 195 companies closed with negative signs. Rates of 21 companies remained unchanged. Among top 10 companies, 8 posted positive trend. Lafarge Pak led the volume with 42 million shares followed by KEL with 17 million shares and KOSM with 11 million shares. Lafarge Pak increased by Re 0.7 to close at Rs 14.66, while K-Electric surged by Re 0.32 to close at Rs 8.14. Kohinoor Spinning closed at Rs 19.15, up by Re 0.94.
Byco Petroleum posted a positive trend, up by Re 0.6 to close at Rs 12.31 on 10.18 million shares. P.T.C.L with 8.99 million shares, moved up by Re 0.68 to close at Rs 28.34. Maple Leaf Cement rose by Re 0.05 to close at Rs 30.94 on 8.5 million shares. Engro Crop fell by Rs 4.66 to close at Rs 185.64 on 8.50 million shares.
B.O.Punjab climbed by Re 0.08 to close at Rs 9.05 on 7.75 million shares. With a trading volume of 7.34 million shares, JS Bank Ltd closed at Rs 5.85, down by Re 0.16. Fauji Cement bagged Re 0.8 to close at Rs 19.56 on 7.06 million shares. Rafhan Maize and Fazal Textile were the top gainers with Rs 300.00 and Rs 44.11 to close at Rs 12,000.00 and Rs 926.35, respectively. BATA (Pak) and Pak Tobacco were the top losers with Rs 51.90 and Rs 39.95 to close at Rs 3,534.46 and Rs 1,209.55, respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said stocks closed lower amid institutional profit-taking in the post-budget trading session amid concerns for rising tax burden on investors following surprise move in federal budget for Capital Gains Tax on second year holding at 10pc and 5pc tax on bonus shares issue. Foreign interest in oil stocks supported the index to close above day's low. Banking stocks battered on dismal earnings outlook, he added. Hike in GIDC levy impacted fertiliser and cement sectors. Special textile package on export refinancing rates and new rebates in federal budget went well for select textile stocks, Ahsan added.
Comments
Comments are closed.