Index closes in red zone

Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed bearish trend during the outgoing week ended on February 15, 2019 due to selling in various sectors. BRIndex100 lost 31.66 points on week-on-week basis to close at 4,319.78 points. Average daily volumes stood at 122.743 million shares. BRIndex30 closed at 23,017.97 points, up 90.75 points with average daily turnover of 90.858 million shares.
KSE-100 index declined by 400.68 points on week-on-week basis and closed at 40,486.67 points. Trading activities remained low as average daily volumes on ready counter decreased by 29.4 percent to 135.27 million shares as compared to previous week's average of 191.51million shares. Average daily trading value declined by 27.7 percent to Rs 6.20 billion.
The foreign investors however remained net buyers of shares worth $12 million during this week. Total market capitalization declined by Rs 88 billion to Rs 8.042 trillion. An analyst at AKD Securities said continuing from the close of last week, the index started the week on a negative note and remained on the trajectory, ending the week at 40,487 points, down 1.0 percent on week-on-week basis. Even the hint by the Finance Minister of opting for an IMF program could not cheer the investors as they preferred to book profits.
Declining coal prices invigorated euphoria among cement stocks in the early part of the week, however, some selling was witnessed in the latter half as profit taking took effect. Inflows of $1.6 million depicted muted foreign interest.
Key performers over the week were CHCC (up 5.36 percent), DGKC (up 5.01 percent), KEL (up 2.35 percent), KAPCO (up 2.29 percent) and OGDC (up 1.74 percent), while laggards included PSMC (down 7.02 percent), PSO (down 7.02 percent), HBL (down 3.29 percent), APL (down 2.95 percent) and EFOODS (down 2.91 percent).
An analyst at JS Global Capital said after the Prime Minister's short meeting with the IMF head during his recent visit to Dubai, market participants raised speculations over potential IMF reform package for Pakistan and remained sidelined from the local equity market.
On sector front, Moody's downgraded Pakistan Banks' outlook to negative in its recent report (Banks: down 1.2 percent). Moreover, the government has rationalized regulatory duty on more than 43 import items, where Autos (down 3.5 percent) and Auto Parts (down 0.3 percent) sectors are likely to emerge as net beneficiaries.