After witnessing a bullish trend during the last five consecutive sessions, making new records and gaining 547.86 points, the Karachi share market witnessed a technical correction on Tuesday as the KSE-100 index closed at 12,817.31 points level, down by 13.78 points.
On the other hand, the parallel free flat market capitalisation-based KSE-30 index closed at its highest ever level of 16,047.42 points level with a net gain of 38.13 points. The market opened on positive note as the KSE-100 index hit its all-time high of 12,894.77 points intra-day high level.
However, profit-taking in oil and banking stocks pushed the index down in negative zone and at one time it reached 12,753.80 points intra-day low level. The market witnessed heavy trading activity as the ready market volume increased to 402.800 million shares as compared to 359.499 million shares traded a day earlier. The futures market turnover also increased to 65.027 million shares against 51.111 million shares changed hands on Monday. The overall market capitalisation witnessed marginally decline of around Rs 1 billion to Rs 3.741 trillion. Trading took place in 413 scrips out of which 196 scrips closed in positive column and 186 scrips closed in negative column while the value of 31 scrips remained unchanged.
Lucky Cement was the star performer of the day with 36.782 million shares and the scrip surged by Rs 4.05 to close at Rs 112.20 on the back of a foreign house''s report. TRG was the second best performer with a net gain of Re 1.00 to close at Rs 12.35 with total volume of 36.419 million shares. DG Kahn Cement also performed well and after gaining Rs 0.50 closed at Rs 105.75 with total turnover of 23.627 million shares.
In banking sector, BoP and JS Bank surged by Rs 0.75 and Rs 0.90 to close at Rs 113.50 and Rs 16.55, respectively, whereas Askari Bank lost Rs 1.25 to close at Rs 96.70.
In E&P sector, OGDC lost Rs 1.15 to close at Rs 121.80 while POL gained Rs 4.10 to close at Rs 358.50. The PTCL and the Telecard also remained active and surged by Rs 0.60 and Rs 1.00 to close at Rs 53.55 and Rs 11.50, respectively.
Rafhan Maize and JS Global Cap gained Rs 50.00 and Rs 17.95 to close at Rs 1,750.00 and Rs 376.95, respectively, while Nestle Pakistan and Siemens lost Rs 81.90 and Rs 59.50 to close at Rs 1,568.10 and Rs 1,575.50 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti, Shehzad Chamdia Securities, said the market witnessed technical correction as the investment under the CFS has reached its highest limit and more funding was not available for investors to invest in the market. The oil-related stocks witnessed profit-taking due to declining oil prices in the international market. The banking sector also witnessed profit-taking. The cement sector performed well on the back of a positive report issued by a foreign brokerage house in which it was said that the cement sector stocks are being traded on under-valued prices.
Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Securities, said the record breaking spree continued although the intensity was low mainly due to the capped financing, the market men seemed prepared to pass the relay stick to the followers, the shift led to intra-day adjustments, nevertheless the index successfully made an intra-day high of 12,895 up by 64 points. The cement sector witnessed a remarkable recovery after an intra-day adjustment that forced the index not only wiped-off the entire gains but landed deep in the negative territory. The low of 12,755 invited support in the main cement stocks while the low priced banking and certain exploration stocks continued to invite buying on dips, cautious stance due to the inborn volatility mainly because of capped CFS the index failed to register yet another high on closing basis.
Technically, the index will continue to face resistance around 12,927-12,933 while support stays at 12,750-12,755, the volatility linked with capped CFS will continue to invite hurdles for the ongoing pre-budget rally based on fundamentals, it is, therefore, recommended to opt for profit-taking in the stocks trading at higher multiples, while availability of growth stocks and fundamentally strong stocks on dips can be capitalised, update on privatisation and the government''s strategy to approach the international equity markets for GDR offerings will divert the local liquidity to the local bourses.