Bearish trend witnessed

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bearish trend during the outgoing week ended August 11, 2017. The prevailing political uncertainty in the country invited selling from both local and foreign investors and the market remained under pressure throughout the week, analysts said.
BRIndex100 declined by 224.22 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 4,929.48 points from previous week''s closing level of 5,153.70 points. The BRIndex100 weekly volume stood at 864,029,500 shares. BRIndex30 decreased by 1263.12 points and closed at 24632.18 points from last week''s closing of 25895.31 points. The BRIndex30 weekly volume was 654,036,700 shares.
Pakistan''s benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 1588.88 points or 3.4 percent on week-on-week basis and closed at 45,288.49 points. Average daily trading volumes on ready counter declined by 45.6 percent to 189.92 million shares as compared to previous week''s average of 348.92 million shares. Average daily trading value decreased by 41.8 percent to Rs 9.64 billion.
Total market capitalization declined by Rs 285 billion to Rs 9.421 trillion. The foreign investors remained net sellers of shares worth $31.16 million during this week as compared to an outflow of $41.09 million in the previous week. Out of total 424 active scrips, 311 closed in negative and 102 in positive while the value of 11 stocks remained unchanged.
The top volume leaders were Azgard Nine (62.309 million shares), TRG Pak (58.522 million shares), K-Electric (57.535 million shares), Summit Bank (55.428 million shares) and Aisha Steel (54.914 million shares). An analyst at AKD Securities said that the KSE?100 index paired gains for the fifth consecutive session closing the week at 45,288 points, dwindling 3.39 percent. Despite ongoing result season, the index weighed upon political uncertainty with Tahir-ul-Qadri demanding public disclosure of 12th May judicial commission report and ousted Prime Minister marching out to protest the Supreme Court''s decision.
An analyst at JS Global Capital said that overall political noise in the country continued to take its toll on the market with benchmark KSE-100 index plummeting by 3.4 percent on week-on-week basis. Overall political uncertainty combined with uninspiring corporate result season contributed towards another splash of red on the screens at the end of the week. Almost all major sectors such as E&Ps (down 3.5 percent), Banks (down 3.0 percent), Fertilisers (down 4.6 percent) and Cements (down 3.9 percent) posted declines during the week.