Equities remain under pressure

Pakistan Stock Exchange remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended on July 6, 2018 due to selling by both local and foreign investors. BRIndex100 lost 174.35 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,295.21 points. Average daily trading volumes stood at 86.913 million shares.
BRIndex30 declined by 794.65 points to close at 21,414.58 points with average daily turnover of 63.829 million shares. Pakistan's benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 1626.76 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 40,284.14 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 39.1 percent to 110.65 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 181.56 million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 41.8 percent to Rs 4.26 billion.
The foreign investors remained net sellers of equities worth $8.73 million as against outflow of $15.52 million during the previous week. Total market capitalization decreased by Rs 307 billion during this week to Rs 8.358 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said during a week where accountability court reserved its verdict on Avenfield reference case and finally ended with severe punishments and hefty fines on Nawaz and family, investors chose to remain on the sidelines with volumes sliding down by 39.1 percent to 110.65 million shares, while the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,284 points on Friday, down 3.88 percent on week-on-week basis.
Concentrated interest was witnessed in K-Electric (KEL) as the regulator announced revised tariff, albeit giving a meager Rs 0.047/KwH raise (under O&M expenses) over the previous one, where the scrip gathered volumes of 79.37 million shares.
Amongst the AKD universe, KAPCO remained the only scrip closing the week in green, up 1.21 percent, while losers included ASTL (down 13.31 percent), CHCC (down 11.74 percent), MLCF (down 8.04 percent), EFOODS (down 6.85 percent) and NML (down 6.56 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the bloodbath continued as KSE-100 index lost another 1,627 points to close at 40,284 points. On a broader level, political volatility and macroeconomic headwinds remained the major culprits due to which investors scrambled to offload positions ahead of the general elections scheduled to be held on 25th of July.
Almost all major sectors such as Oil and Marketing Companies (down 5.4 percent), Auto assemblers (down 6.1 percent), Cements (down 5.0 percent), Exploration & Production (down 4.6 percent), Banks (down 2.8 percent) and fertilizers (down 2.5 percent) witnessed a decline during the week. It remains to be seen how market will further react to accountability court's verdict and current macroeconomic climate going forward; for now, volatility is expected to persist.