Index moves into negative territory

After five-day consecutive gains, Karachi stocks descended into negative territory with KSE-100 index losing 122 points or 0.34 percent on Thursday. Amid what market analysts dubbed late session profit-taking, the benchmark index depleted to 35,934.99 points from Wednesday's record 36,056.68. The index showed volatility by first climbing to 36,113.20 points level and then plunging to 35,876.78 in the intraday trade.
The trading turnover decreased by seven percent to 576 million shares compared to the previous 621 million, as what Topline analyst Mohammad Rizwan observed, investors squaring their positions in the index heavyweight scrips. This made HBL, ENGRO, DGKC and LUCK post a fall ranging from 1.12 to 2.21 percent. The week's second last session saw mid-cap stocks like DCL, BOP and LOTCHEM remaining in the limelight.
The traded value, however, settled in the green at Rs 16.85 billion as against Rs 16.53 billion a day earlier. Of the total 398 scrips traded, 168 gained, 208 lost and 22 stayed unchanged in value. The market capital moved southward contracting to Rs 7.711 trillion. The foreign investment remained downward at net selling of $3.43 million. Dewan Cement led the day's volumes with 33 million trading turnover. The cement manufacturer opened at Rs 15.39 and grew to Rs 15.46 a share.
Other nine best performing stocks were Bank of Punjab 30 million, Lotte Chemical 29 million, Pervez Ahmed 25.5 million, TRG Pakistan 25.4 million, Telecard Limited 24.8 million, Pak Elektron 19 million, SSGC 18.6 million, WorldCall Telecom 16.9 million and Quice Food 16.8 million shares. Futures trade rose to 31 million contracts from 30 million of last trading session. "Stocks closed lower on late session profit-taking in overbought scrips across the board amid fears of likely economic impact of floods across the country," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp.
Rizwan said investors preferred to trim their positions in UBL despite its better than expected result announcement. SSGC and SNGP went up by 3.9 and 2.74 percent respectively on the back of expected hike in gas prices. The oil stocks remained weak after plunge in WTI crude oil prices which dipped to $49 a barrel. Mehanti cited $2.2bn current account deficit data for 2014-15, rising political uncertainty and limited foreign interest as the day's catalyst.