Index remains under pressure

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under pressure during the outgoing week ended November 18, 2016 due to hefty foreign selling and political uncertainty in the country. The benchmark KSE-100 index declined by 524.18 points or 1.2 percent on week-on-week basis and closed at 42,324.94 points.
Trading activities also remained low due to absence of retail investors and average daily volumes at ready counter declined by 7.1 percent to 458.64 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 493.75 million shares. Average daily trading value also decreased by 24.7 percent to Rs 14.06 billion. Total market capitalisation reduced by Rs 89 billion to stand at Rs 8.577 trillion.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that the KSE-100 index took a breather during outgoing week amidst continuing foreign selling. Of the total activity seen during the week, overall activity remained concentrated in auto parts and accessories, cements and commercial banks. The major decliners during the week were power generation and autos sectors.
According to Topline Securities weekly report the benchmark KSE-100 index witnessed a dull week as investors remained cautious and preferred to book profits on the back of continuous foreign selling for consecutive ten days. Uncertainty on local political grounds due to the ongoing Panama hearings further restrained market sentiment in the outgoing week. The top three gainers over the outgoing week were Transport, Cements and Commercial Banks, up 9.7 percent, 5.8 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. While top three losers were Power Generation, Food and Personal Care and Automobile Assemblers, declining 1.9 percent, 1.8 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.
BIPL weekly report said the market was mostly range-bound throughout this week as the local political tension and geo-political instability kept the index movement in-check. With no major trigger, cherry picking was mainly followed as the index closed the week at 42,325 points, down 1.2 percent. AKD Securities weekly research report said the market remained volatile as caution denominated sentiments for the week driven by concerns on Panama case hearing. Top gainers for the week included Hascol, EPCL, PIOC, CHCC and NCL while scrips that ended in the red zone were INDU, ICI, ASTL, SSGC and DAWH.