Bearish trend continued at the Karachi share market during the week ended on January 12, 2008 and KSE-100 index declined by 344.56 points to close at 13,915.04 points level due to prevailing political uncertainty and law and order situation in the country. The KSE-30 index also lost 467.79 points and settled at 16,421.80 points level.
The average daily volume of ready market showed an increase of 6 percent to 245 million shares as compared to 231 million shares traded during a week earlier. The average turnover of futures market declined by 6 percent to 40 million shares. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 77 billion to Rs 4.275 trillion.
The market witnessed selling pressure on Monday due to declining oil prices in the international market.
The State Bank of Pakistan report on economic performance, highlighting concerns over inflation, deficits and export shortfall and reports over direct intervention of the US army in Pakistan forced the market participants onto sidelines and they opted to offload their holdings, resulting in 96.49 points loss in KSE-100 index, closing at 14,163.11 points level. The KSE-30 index declined by 185.73 points to close at 16,703.86 points level.
On Tuesday, the market took upward trend on the back of local investors and institutional support and the KSE-100 index surged by 156.08 points to close at 14,319.19 points, while the KSE-30 index gained 219.56 points to close at 16,923.42 points level.
The KSE-100 index lost another 52.77 points to close at 14,226.42 points level on Wednesday due to lack of interest of foreign investors. The local investors also remained cautious due to a statement of the head of the United Nations (UN) watchdog that Pakistan''s nuclear assets could fall into wrong hands. The KSE-30 index declined by 97.54 points to close at 16,825.88 points.
The market witnessed another dull session on Thursday due to prevailing political uncertainty and law and order situation in the country, coupled with the declining oil prices in the international market. As a result, the KSE-100 index declined by 183.48 points to close at 14,082.94 points level, while the KSE-30 index lost 177.93 points and settled at 16,647.95 points.
The bearish trend continued on Friday due to prevailing law and order situation and political uncertainty in the country and the KSE-100 index lost another 167.90 points and closed below at 13,915.04 points. The KSE-30 index declined by 226.15 points and settled at 16,421.80 points level.
Farhan Mahmood at JS Global Capital Limited said that the main reason for the declining trend was the ongoing political conditions, especially against the back drop of recent suicide bombings. Moreover, investors'' concerns over future economic prospects further aggravated market sentiments. The SBP quarterly report further shattered foreign investors'' confidence at local bourses. Increasing trade deficit and higher than targeted food inflation were major areas of concern identified in report.
Mohammad Ali at Invest Capital & Securities said that the pre-election political wrangling, coupled with sporadic episodes of terrorism continued to maintain cloud of uncertainty over the Pakistan''s capital markets. On week-on-week basis, the top gainer scrips were from Vanaspati & Allied Industries, Investment Banks and Textile Composite, showing an increase of around 12 percent, 3 percent and 3 percent respectively while the laggards were from Insurance, Glass & Ceramics and Misc. that decreased by 7 percent, 6 percent and 6 percent respectively. the bluechip sectors including OMCs, Technology and Communication, Cement, E&P, Fertiliser and Commercial Banks showed a change of 2 percent, -5 percent, -3 percent, -2 percent, -1 percent and -1 percent respectively.