Equities witnessed another bearish session Wednesday because of what analysts said selling pressure in index heavyweight oil and banking stocks. What, however, may comfort the economic managers is the fact that the previously falling foreign portfolio investment settled in green for the third consecutive session after the launch of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
While individual investors made a net selling of $4590, offshore institutions and overseas Pakistanis bought net portfolios of $16,048 and $139,918. Net buying for the day amounted to $151,376. Showing volatility in intraday trade, the KSE-100 index shed 111 points to close at 32,154 compared to 32,266 of last session. "Banks and E&P sector stocks together were responsible for (the) decline," viewed Muhammad Rizwan, Head of Sales at Topline Securities.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti also cited investor concerns for what he said rising political furore in the country while dwelling on the day's negative. Seeing pressure in select scrips across the board on dismal exports data for Jul-Dec'15, the market observers said weak earnings outlook in banking, oil, and fertiliser sectors and uncertainty in global equities helped bears prevail.
Traded volume shrank to 115 million shares the value of which depleted to Rs 6.75 billion compared to Tuesday's Rs 7.63 billion. Of the 329 issues traded, only 101 appreciated, 200 declined while 28 remained unchanged. The market cap was no exception, contracting from Rs 6.81 trillion to Rs 6.78 trillion. TRG Pakistan, with 14.7 million trading, was the day's best performing scrip with having dipped to Rs 29.37 at close. Others to follow were JSCL, Fauji Cement, Pak Elektron, Hub Power Company, DG Khan Cement, Amreli Steel, K-Electric, Dewan Cement and Maple Leaf Cement.
The day's fall, analyst Rizwan attributes, to decline in the oil stocks. As US WTI crude oil prices hover around 12-year low of $31 a barrel, the oil exploration firms at PSX felt the heat with OGDC, PPL and POL losing 1.18 to 3.39 percent. Also in red were major banking scrips like MCB and UBL which devalued to 0.86 and UBL 1.24 percent. Further, market sentiments got hit when actively-traded stocks such as TRG and JSCL fell to their lowest limits of five percent. The state-run oil importer, PSO, added 0.66 percent because of what analysts said the Economic Coordination Committee's nod to the country's LNG deal with Qatar.
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