Bears dominated the Karachi share market Wednesday and the benchmark KSE-100 index fell below 32,000-level to close at 31,782 points. Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Securities, said the equity market closed bearish led by oil scrips after Brent crude oil prices fell to a five-year low amid political noise in the city.
Falling global equities, institutional profit-taking on weak earnings outlook in oil sector played a catalytic role in the bearish activity at KSE despite support in select cement stocks on falling trend in coal prices, Mehanti added. During the intraday trading, the index fluctuated in red and green zones, touching intraday 32,186 points highest and 31,760 points lowest levels. The KSE-100 index declined by 0.94 percent or 302 points to close at 31,782 points, compared to 32,084 points Tuesday.
Share volume moved down as overall some 258 million shares were traded on the ready counter compared to 279 million in the last session. Market capitalisation fell by Rs 84 billion to Rs 7.258 trillion down from Rs 7.342 trillion. "Political noise after MQM hints of protest affected equity prices on Wednesday, while some profit-taking was also seen in oil stocks amid continuous falling global oil prices," said Samar Iqbal, analyst at Topline Securities.
Drug companies that were rallying last few sessions fell sharply. ABOT, FEROZ, SEARL fell to lower limits. Volumes declined to 258 million shares and the value decreased to $138 million. Analysts at JS said as political unrest builds momentum, investors opt to book profits and get sidelined. Within the oil & gas sector PSO (-1.4 percent) and SHEL (-2.0 percent) declined as oil prices declined towards 5-year low. Mari Petroleum reached its lower circuit Wednesday following a cut in its subsidy by the government for exploration, they added.
Within the pharma sector profit-taking was witnessed as FEROZ and ABOT both reached their lower circuits. Going forward, they said the market is expected to remain volatile due to the political unrest in the country. Trading took place in 384 companies, of which 82 closed in green zone, 287 in the red, while 15 remained unchanged. Among top 10 volume leaders, nine companies recorded a negative trend. With 34 million shares volume, K-Electric emerged the volume leader, gaining Re 0.28 to close at Rs 8.71. Pak Elektron stood second, down Re 0.24 to close at Rs 35.75 on 29.56 million shares. B.O.Punjab ranked third with 22.7 million shares, down Re 0.21 to Rs 9.59.
Maple Leaf Cement closed at Rs 40.08, down Rs 0.64 on 14 million shares. Some 9.2 million shares of Fauji Cement were traded and the scrip moved down by Re 0.87 to Rs 23.69. Jah. Sidd. Co declined by Re 0.35 to Rs 14.57 on 8.8 million shares. With 8.2 million shares, D.G.K. Cement decreased by Re 0.66 to Rs 101.68. Pioneer Cement closed at Rs 77.44, down by Rs 2.01 on 7.4 million shares.
TRG Pak Ltd declined by Re 0.26 to Rs 13.55 on 6 million shares and with some 5.4 million shares trading, Engro Corp closed at Rs 219.10, down Rs 1.11. MithchellsFruit and Services Ind Ltd were the top gainers with Rs 30.96 and Rs 30.53 to close at Rs 821.80 and Rs 1,020.63, respectively. Nestle Pak and Rafhan Maize were the top losers with Rs 300.00 and Rs 176.82 to close at Rs 8,500.00 and Rs 10,325.00 respectively.
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