Bears rule the roost

The capital market remained under the rule of bears Thursday and the KSE-100 index shed another 120 points to what analysts said pressure in oil, banking and fertiliser stocks. Foreign investment was another drag on the benchmark index as offshore investors sold portfolios worth $3.35 million. This takes the week's total outflows to $7.124 million. The number of shares traded depleted to 140 million from Wednesday's 152 million.
The traded value also shrank to Rs 6.32 billion compared to Rs 7.82 billion of previous session. In total, 362 issues changed hands of which 134 depreciated, 206 appreciated while 22 remained unchanged. The listed market cap slid to Rs 7.011 trillion compared to Rs 7.036 trillion a day earlier. SSGC led volumes with 18 million shares. The gas utility rose to Rs 43.91 at close. "SSGC witnessed another volatile session as it topped the most active stocks and managed to post an increase of two percent with a healthy volume," said Mohammad Rizwan of Topline Securities.
Other best performing stocks included TRG Pakistan 11 million, SNGPL 9.2 million, Pak Elektron 8.3 million, Pace Pakistan 6 million, Bank of Punjab 5 million, K-Electric 4.5 million, PTCL 3.5 million, Pak Refinery 3 million and Ghani Gases Limited 2.9 million shares. Futures trade remained upward and swelled to 60 million against 46.6 million of last session, thanks to ready-future activity on second last day of the roll-over week.
Arif Habib analyst Ahsan Mehanti attributed the day's fall to pressure in oil, banking and fertiliser scrips on weak earnings outlook. "Likely impact of Rs 40 billion new tax measures from next week to meet revenue shortfall weakened the sentiment," he added.
The analyst cited falling banking spreads, dismal urea sales, lower global crude prices, concerns on ongoing rumours over political implication of investigations under Anti Terrorism Act as catalyst for the bearish end. Rizwan observed the selling pressure which, he said, dragged the index to the red zone. Fertiliser stocks were under selling pressure because of what analyst said higher inventory levels of urea. Consequently, ENGRO, EFERT and FATIMA lost 0.62 to 4.78 percent.