Bearish trend witnessed

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bearish trend during the outgoing 4-day week ended on February 8, 2019 as the investors opted to book profit. BRIndex100 lost 27.59 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,351.44 points. Average daily volumes stood at 176.702 million shares. BRIndex30 decreased by 165.97 points to close at 22,927.22 points with average daily turnover of 122.097 million shares.
KSE-100 index declined by 225.36 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 40,887.35 points. Trading activities slightly improved as average daily volumes on ready counter increased by 9.5 percent to 191.51 million shares during this week as compared to previous week''s average of 174.84 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 25.4 percent to Rs 8.58 billion.
The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $12.2 million during this week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 40 billion during this week to Rs 8.130 trillion.
An analyst at AKD Securities said building on last 5-week momentum, the market started the week on a positive note, with KSE-100 index gaining 502 points on the first trading session, as the market participants eulogized announcement of potential financial assistance of $2.5 billion from China. However, the index pared earlier gains in the following three sessions as lack of concrete developments on the IMF bailout shattered the investors'' confidence, with KSE-100 index losing 0.55 percent on week-on-week basis to close the week at 40,887 points.
Sector-wise, cement scrips remained in the limelight where sector initially gained on softening coal prices while paring back some of the earlier gains on disappointing January 2019 offtakes. Key performers over the week were FCCL (up 6.89 percent), DGKC (up 6.58 percent), CHCC (up 5.28 percent), MLCF (up 5.12 percent) and INDU (up 4.44 percent), while laggards included HASCAL (down 4.75 percent), HBL (down 3.39 percent), PSO (down 3.09 percent), UBL (down 2.92 percent) and EFOODS (down 2.07 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said after a strong performance during preceding weeks, investors opted for profit taking this week. Moreover, concerns regarding the economic scenario stand firmly in place, particularly the external account and the fiscal deficit, which also curbed the market momentum.
Looking at sector performance during the week, Cements (up 3.4 percent) were among the outperformers, on account of declining international coal prices. Weaker global crude oil prices (down 5.0 percent) led to an underperformance in E&Ps (down 1.5 percent). Pharmas (up 3.6 percent) were among the major outperformers during the week, which was likely due to strong CPI numbers for the month of January 2019, given that price increases for medicinal products have been linked by the government to annual CPI inflation.