KSE witnesses bearish trend

Bearish trend continued at the Karachi share market on Thursday as the benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 111.80 points to close at 6,878.14 points level. Trading activities also remained low as the volumes at ready counter significantly declined to 93.595 million shares as compared to 139.705 million shares traded on Wednesday.
The overall market capitalisation declined by Rs 32 billion to Rs 2.040 trillion. Out of the total 303 active scrips, 210 closed in the negative and 79 in the positive while the value of 14 scrips remained unchanged. Jahangir Siddiqui Co was the volume leader with 12.081 million shares. However, it lost Rs 1.20 to close at Rs 24.00. Pak PTA declined by Re. 0.10 to close at Rs 3.10 with 5.877 million shares.
In the banking sector, NBP, MCB and Saudi Pak Bank decreased by Rs 1.94, Rs 6.24 and Re. 0.68 to close at Rs 62.76, Rs 142.42 and Rs 6.88 with 4.795 million shares, 4.297 million shares and 3.632 million shares respectively. Dewan Cement increased by Re. 0.15 to close at Rs 3.08 with 4.615 million shares, meanwhile, DG Khan Cement and Lucky Cement declined by Re. 0.77 and Re. 0.40 to close at Rs 23.00 and Rs 53.55 with 4.505 million shares and 3.110 million shares respectively.
OGDC lost Re. 0.55 to close at Rs 74.31 with 4.009 million shares. Adamjee Insurance declined by Rs 4.35 to close at Rs 82.73 with 3.063 million shares. Siemens Pakistan and Dreamworld were the highest gainers and gained Rs 14.00 and Rs 11.00 to close at Rs 984.00 and Rs 245.00 respectively while Nestle Pakistan and Treet Corporation were the worst losers and lost Rs 48.58 and Rs 12.25 to close at Rs 923.17 and Rs 232.75 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Shehzad Chamdia Securities said that the intense selling continued on pre-budget uncertainty on taxation over capital markets and banking/brokerage services. The continuing foreign selling and weakening rupee value also affected investors' sentiment. Falling oil prices in international market, reduction in banking sector spreads and high liquidity costs also played a catalyst role for negative performance, he added. He said that the investors ignored KSE inclusion in Dow Jones Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges Index.