Equities received a heavy battering weighed by political uncertainty which pulled the benchmark KSE-100 index down by 666 points, the biggest decline in nine months. The index settled at 29,647.83 points. Samar Iqbal, AVP at Topline Securities, said rising political temperature after PTI decided to continue long march/sit-in affected the equity prices.
Global sell-off in equity markets around the world last week also affected the local sentiment. The market fell by 2.2 percent, highest fall after 9 months. Despite today's fall Pakistan index is up 17.4 percent in 2014 till today, she added. Volume rose to 223 million shares and the value increased to Rs 9.4 billion. Lafarge Cement witnessed major activity as investors accumulated on lower levels after take over by Bestway Group. Index heavyweights - OGDC and PSO lost heavily, while UBL resisted the fall amid institutional support, Samar maintained.
During the intra-day trading, the index reached 30,314.07 points highest and 29,436.76 points lowest level. Despite a bearish trend, volume at the ready counter increased to 223.875 million shares compared to 103.619 million shares in previous session. Market capitalisation fell by Rs 128 billion to Rs 6.992 trillion against previous Rs 7.120 trillion. Fahad M Ali, an analyst at JS Global, said bears dominated the KSE-100 Index to close at 29,648. LPCL and FCCL were the volume leaders. The market witnessed correction today due to the ongoing political instability which generated uncertainty amongst investors and therefore they chose to remain net sellers, he added.
He said with foreign markets also declining and Argentina defaulting on its payments, equity markets all over the world are facing pressure. The KSE-100 index is expected to remain rangebound until the political situation becomes stable. Trading took place in 362 companies, of which 39 closed in green zone, 310 in red, while 13 companies landed in blue zone.
Among top 10 volume leaders 7 companies recorded a negative trend. Lafarge Pak emerged the volume leader with 43.84 million shares, down Re 0.47 to close at Rs 15.47. Fauji Cement stood second, down Re 0.61 to close at Rs 20.22 on 12.49 million shares. Lotte Chemical gained Re 0.1 to close at Rs 7.94 on 12.02 million shares. Maple Leaf Cement moved down by Rs 1.23 to close at Rs 29.85 on 10.51 million shares. With 9.73 million shares, Byco Petroleum surged by Re 0.62 to close at Rs 11.71. Bank Al-Falah fell by Re 0.89 to close at Rs 27.58 on 7.39 million shares. TRG Pakistan Ltd decreased by Re 0.99 to close at Rs 12.69 on 7.11 million shares. Askari Bank gained Re 0.65 to close at Rs 22.33 on 6.75 million shares. With a trading volume of 6.47 million shares, B.O.Punjab closed at Rs 8.67, down by Re 0.45. K-Electric recorded a negative trend, down by Re 0.15 to close at Rs 7.20 on 5.29 million shares.
Rafhan Maize and Exide (Pak) were the top gainers with Rs 451.00 and Rs 27.41 to close at Rs 11,701.00 and Rs 575.84, respectively. Wyeth Pak Ltd and Colgate Palmolive were the top losers with Rs 178.89 and Rs 55.00 to close at Rs 3,398.91 and Rs 1675.00, respectively.
Rabab Khan, analyst at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said the benchmark KSE-100 index nose-dived today owing to worries about rising political noise and recent decline in international markets as Fed cut its bond buying programme by another $10 billion per month and likely foreign outflow due to disturbed international political environment. Meanwhile, below expectations Chinese data and Argentina's debt default also had a bounteous effect on foreign flows at the bourse, she said.
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