After notching up a 347-point gain in first three sessions, KSE-100 Index closed on a negative note and witnessed a technical correction in the last two sessions. The Index gained only 68.14 points last week to close at 23,497.07 points against 23,428.93 a week earlier. Similarly, weekly average volume improved by 39.5 percent and stood at 301.90 million shares compared to 216.37 million shares a week earlier. The market capitalisation followed suit and moved up by 0.7 percent to close at Rs5.742 trillion from Rs5.702 trillion.
Besides, average daily value witnessed bullish trend and increased by 23.9 percent to close at Rs12.22 billion compared to Rs9.86 billion of last trading-week.
Commenting on the market performance, Farrah Marwat, Head of J.S Global said correction in last two sessions was sparked by both (1) rollover of future contracts and (2) elevated KSE-100 levels, where the market is treading all-time high levels following a 39 percent YTD 2013 surge with forward P/E at 9.5x vs. 7.4x forward P/E at the start of the year.
She said with the onset of the generally higher payout June 2013 result season, trading volumes at the bourse rose by 40 percent WoW to 302mn shares.
Positive news early in the week cantered on foreign inflows, where (1) the upcoming IMF loan has been upped to US $6.5billion from US $5.3billion and the US onboard to plead Pakistan''s case for a further increase to US $7.5billion (2) ADB and World Bank are also expected to chip in with up to US $500mn budgetary support apiece and (3) China continues to make positive noises on investment in Pakistan, citing a US $6billion investment in the power sector over the next 5 years.
Farrah said prospects of the same appear to be neutralising the equity market''s response to slipping foreign exchange reserves (down US $299mn to US $10.2bn this week). The same cannot be said about the Pak rupee, which has shed 2.5 percent vs the US dollar in July 2013 alone.
Samar Iqbal, an analyst at Topline Securities commented that the market marginally gained during the outgoing week as the index recorded only 0.3 percent gain. Volumes in rupee terms increased by 24 percent to Rs 12bn.
She said key highlights remained better than expected result announcements by PTC and FFBL, right issue and huge loss reported by AKBL for June-end result, unconfirmed news of reinstatement of ICH and government efforts to control grey trafficking, banking stocks remained volatile during the week on account of expectation of reversal of monetary easing while weak result expectations brought selling pressure, cements stocks gained in expectation of better June-end results, she added.
In terms of company/sector specific activity this week, cements put in a strong showing (+6.9 percent WoW) in anticipation of strong year-end results while investors shrugged off concerns on banks'' slow core performance in light of an anticipated U-turn in spreads.
Following strong 2Q2013 results last week, the spotlight shone on PTC again this week (+10.1 percent WoW) as news of Etisalat''s interest in acquiring Warid Telecom picked up pace. PPL (+3.2 percent WoW) was the E&P poster boy, announcing its 4th discovery in 3-months while Kapco took a beating (-6.4 percent WoW) after International Power Plc offloaded its 36 percent stake in the company to local investors at Rs46/sh (28 percent discount to market price).
Universal top performers during the week were Fauji Cement, Attock Refinery, Lafarge Pak Cement, Pakistan Telecom, National Refinery, Indus Motor Company, Bank Al-Falah, Lucky Cement, National Bank of Pakistan and Pakistan State Oil.
Last week, led by banking and cement, KSE witnessed bull-run on the first day of new week and the KSE-100 Index gained 228.88 points to close at historic high of 23,657.81 against 23,428.93 on Friday.
Karachi share market ended higher on Tuesday led by select blue chips on the strong valuations. The KSE-100 Index gained 25.46 points to close at all-time-high of 23,683.27 against 23,657.81 Monday.
Led by banking and cement, the local bourse witnessed third consecutive bullish session Wednesday as the KSE-100 Index gained 92.95 points to close at historic high of 23,776.22 against 23,683.27 level Tuesday.
After three continuous bullish sessions, KSE witnessed bearish session Thursday due to profit taking in various top sectors. With a technical correction of 202 points, the KSE-100 Index reverted to 23,573.68 level from 23,776.22 Wednesday.
On Friday, a lower trend was witnessed at KSE due to bear rule on the trading floor. The KSE-100 Index lost 76.61 points as investors preferred to book profits in various stocks. As a result, the index reverted to 23,497.07 from 23,573.68 level.