Mixed trend was witnessed at Karachi share market during the week ended on May 20, 2011 due to investors'' cautious stance over prevailing political and economic situation in the country. The KSE-100 index, after moving both sides, closed at 11,973.38 points, marginally up by 6.03 points.
Trading at the ready counter remained extremely low and the average daily volume declined by 33.3 percent to 45.90 million shares as compared to previous week''s 68.81 million shares.
Market capitalisation declined by Rs 2 billion to Rs 3.174 trillion.
Foreign investors remained net buyers of shares worth $2.1 million.
On Monday, the market opened under pressure and the index lost 65.23 points to close at 11,902.12 points with trading of 44.895 million shares.
On Tuesday, the index recovered 28.12 points and closed at 11,930.24 points with 63.354 million shares.
On Wednesday, the market witnessed bearish trend and the index declined by 45.63 points to close at 11,884.61 points with 36.772 million shares.
On Thursday, the index lost 5.80 points and closed at 11,878.81 points with 40.083 million shares.
On Friday, the index recovered 94.57 points on the back of investors'' revived interest on dips and closed at 11,973.38 points with 44.371 million shares.
Yawar Uz Zaman, an analyst at Invest Capital and Securities, said that the market witnessed bearish trend on account of limited local and foreign interest. The investors were cautious due to political and economic happenings. Although the ties between Pakistan and US did not seem to be on the same footing as they were prior to the whole Osama fiasco, but the strong support provided by China was helping the country to sustain international pressure being exerted by European countries. At the same time China vowed to help Pakistan to overcome its economic hardships, as both countries agreed to increase the size of trade to $15 billion for next year.
On the economic facade, IMF agreed to set fiscal deficit target at 4 percent of GDP for the coming fiscal, but asked the government to improve its debt management and broaden its tax base. On the contrary, the uncertainty over new federal Budget amid upcoming SBP''s monetary policy had their impact on market as well.
Sana Hanif at JS Global Capital said that the market was enveloped with dull sentiment throughout the week as investors exercised caution ahead of the budget and, more importantly, monetary policy announcement due on the weekend. Moreover, market participants were left disappointed over outcome of IMF-Pak talks held in Dubai. News flows such as SNGPL again cutting gas supply to Engro''s new fertiliser plant, Planning Commission seeking for complete abolishment of deemed duty for refineries in the budget and Pakistan''s weightage in MSCI Frontier Index being lowered to 3.98 percent, were also key dampeners.