Sentiment at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained negative amid selling pressure Thursday. The benchmark KSE-100 index declined slightly by 16 points to close at 48,289 points down from 48,305 points.
Ahsan Mehanti analyst at Arif Habib said that stocks closed lower amid pressure in cement and auto stocks in the post earnings season profit-taking. However, he said that, late session interest in banking and oil stocks supported the index to close above session lows after WTI crude prices surged near to $50/barrel on output cuts and reports on rising banking spreads.
Mehanti said concerns about leverage issues and uncertainty over outcome of Panamagate case hearings played a catalytic role in bearish activity.
During the intra-day trading, the KSE-100 index also touched 48,341 points highest and 47,774 point lowest level. Volume at the ready counter also decreased by 13 percent to 181 million shares compared to 206 million Wednesday. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 9.539 trillion up from Rs 9.532 trillion.
Hammad Aman, Manager Equity Sales at Topline Securities, said banks led the index to fall to an intraday low of 531 points however with their sharp recovery, market recovered to close down by 16 points or 0.03 percent.
HUBC continued to slide after its announcement that the company has decided to divest 40 percent stake in Thar Energy and its stock declined by 1.4 percent, he added.
He said that cases against anti dumping duty will be heard again as a result interest was seen in steel sector stocks such as ASL and ISL. BOP closed at its upper limit following expectation that it would post better corporate results.
Trading took place in 384 companies, of which 148 closed in the green, 217 in the red, while share prices of some 19 companies remained unchanged.
Among top 10 volume leaders, K-Electric Ltd emerged the volume leader as its 28.538 million shares were traded. It lost Re. 0.04 to close at Rs 9.11. B O Punjab stood second gaining Re 1 to close at Rs 15.71 on 16.426 million shares. Sui North Gas ranked third with 7.76 million shares. It closed at Rs 134.24, up by Rs 1.81. With a trading volume of 5.837 million shares, TRG Pak gained Re. 0.05 to Rs 52.64. Power Cement Ltd moved up by Re. 0.28 to Rs 19.36 on 5.556 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Wyeth Pak were the top gainers with Rs 200 and Rs 119.45 to close at Rs 6,300 and Rs 2,508.45, respectively. Bata (Pak) and HinoPak Motor were the top losers with Rs 215 and Rs 77.76 to close at Rs 4,090 and Rs 1,532.24, respectively.
Analysts at JS said another bleak session was witnessed at the local bourse as the benchmark KSE-100 index traded between an intraday high of +35 points and intraday low of -531 points. They said the E&P sector retrieved from its preceding trend to close in the green as crude oil prices rose on to extend gains from the previous session after official government data showed U.S. stockpiles had eased from record highs.
Moreover, a mixed sentiment was witnessed in the cement sector where the major contributors - LUCK (-0.19%) and MLCF (-0.11%) closed in the red. On the contrary, ACPL (+1.56%) closed positive. Fertilizer sector lost value to close in the red zone as sector heavy weights FFBL (-2.44%) and FFC (-1.05%) were the major losers of the aforementioned sector. Furthermore, confidence was recouped in the banking sector where buying was witnessed in HBL (+0.12%), they maintained.
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