A mixed trend persisted on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Wednesday. The benchmark KSE-100 index traded between 49,331.54 points intra-day high and 48,710.29 points intra-day low before settling at 48,981.65 points, down 33.44 points on Wednesday. Selling was seen on both local and foreign fronts. Foreign investors sold shares worth $1.2 million.
Trading activity slightly improved as the daily trading volumes on the ready counter increased to 379.901 million shares as compared to 343.120 million shares traded Tuesday. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 28 billion to Rs 9.699 trillion. Out of total 430 active scrips, 320 closed in negative, only 95 in positive while the value of 15 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 56.829 million shares. However, the scrip lost Rs 0.16 to close at Rs 9.65 followed by Aisha Steel Mills that declined by Rs 1.27 to close at Rs 25.79 with 34.222 million shares. Power Cement decreased by Rs 0.99 to close at Rs 19.66 with 24.568 million shares.
Colgate Palmolive and Atlas Battery were the top gainers with Rs 38.60 and Rs 33.67, respectively to close at Rs 1,938.60 and Rs 975.67. Rafhan Maize and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers with Rs 300.00 and Rs 79.75, respectively to close at Rs 7,550.00 and Rs 2,470.25. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said that pressure remained in blue chip oil stocks amid concerns for foreign outflows, surging circular debt in the energy sector and dismal payouts in the earnings season. Institutional support in blue chip banking, fertilizer and cement stocks supported the index to close above intra-day low level. He said that consolidation post major earning announcements at PSX played a catalyst role in bearish close in the futures rollover week.
An analyst at Topline Securities said that the market opened on a positive note, reaching an intra-day high of 49,331 points, up 316 points or 0.64 percent. While the bourse traded green for most of the day, news broke of SECP handing over brokers investigation over to NAB along with a raid on the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) office, which resulted in a 550 points sell-off (low of 48,710 points). NBP announced above expected EPS of Rs 4.4/share for 4th quarter 2016 along with cash dividend of Rs 7.5/share. However the stock came under selling pressure and subsequently declined by 1.2 percent. SNGP announced EPS of Rs 3.47/share for second quarter of FY17, up 58 percent in-line with expectations. The stock gained 2.3 percent.
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