PSX remains under pressure

Pakistan stock market remained under pressure during the week ended June 23, 2017 and the benchmark KSE-100 index lost 526.25 points to close at 46,332.31 points. Average daily trading volumes however increased by 8.3 percent to 276.64 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 255.46 million shares. Average daily trading value increased by 21.0 percent to Rs 13.02 billion.
Total market capitalization increased by Rs 53 billion to Rs 9.417 trillion. The foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $9.2 million as compared to net selling of $9.5 million in the previous week. An analyst at AKD Securities said that bouncing back from CYTD (calendar year to date) low of 44,914 points hit on Tuesday, with investors buying into the trough being rewarded by week''s end, the KSE-100 closed at 46,332 points weakening minimally by 1.1 percent on week-on-week basis. Apart from developments concerning proceedings of the Panama case in the SC. Top performers during the week were NM (up 7.96 percent), HUBC (up 3.86 percent), AKBL ( up 3.74 percent), EPCL (up 3.01 percent), whereas stocks leading declines were INDU (down 6.80 percent), FFBL (down 6.07 percent), LOTCHEM (down 5.77 percent) and HASCOl (down 5.17 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that speculations over outcome of Joint Investigation Team''s (JIT) findings on Sharif Family case continued to air firestorm at the bourse with benchmark KSE-100 index losing 526 points to close at 46,332 points. Foreign investors remained on a buying spree this week, scooping up value buys amidst relentless selling. Not surprisingly, almost all major index heavyweights such as Oil & Gas Exploration (down 1.4 percent), OMCs (down 1.1 percent), fertilizers (down 0.4 percent) and cements (down 1.2 percent) etc continued to extend losses.
An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the local bourse continued its staggering decline in the first two trading session (1,944 points) hitting an intra-week low of 43,827 points, whereas the market closed at 46,332, down by 1.1 percent on week-on-week basis. This week the equity market witnessed pressure due to political uncertainty over JIT and mutual fund redemptions. Top losers dragging down the market were Commercial Banks (down 94 points), Oil & Gas Exploration Companies (down 90 points), Automobile Assembler (down 68 points), Pharmaceuticals (down 56 percent), whereas Power Generation & Distribution (up 62 points) and Textile Composite (up 42 points) were the top two positively contributing sectors during the week. Scrip wise HBL (down 85 points), SEARL (down 46 points), PPL (down 46 points) and FFC (down 44 points) remained the leading laggards, whereas HUBC (up 68 points), UBL (up 45 points) and NML (up 41 points) were the positive contributors for the week. Individuals and Mutual Funds were major sellers of stocks worth $24.78 million and $12.25 million respectively. Selling was absorbed to a great extent by foreign investors who made net purchases of $9.19 million.