Karachi Stock Market closed lower on the concern of political uncertainty showing mixed sentiments where investors remained on the sideline and the benchmark KSE-100 fell sharply by 934 points in an outgoing week ended on August 8, 2014.
Amna Perchani, an analyst at Aba Ali Habib Securities, said that in the midst of uncertain political scenario with protests to get closer day by day, the KSE-100 witnessed rear pain as investors opted to shy away from the market.
Consequently, the index lost 933.54 points during the week with relatively low activity. Most of the blue chip stocks lost its previous gain when the index closed above 30,000 points before Eid Holidays. Therefore, the week ahead holds certain clues which will determine the market direction going forward. Whereas, volatility can also be grasped in the upcoming days, she added.
Average daily value decreased by 29.1 per cent to Rs 6.378 billion during the outgoing week compared to Rs 9 billion a week earlier. Average daily volume also dipped by 25 per cent to 129.430 million shares against 172.76 million shares during the previous week. During the last week, the market capitalisation lost Rs 214 billion to Rs 6.906 trillion up from Rs 7.120 trillion.
Raheel Ashraf, an analyst at JS Global said that after a long weekend due to Eid Holidays, the Pakistan's equity market started off the week on a negative note as the KSE-100 index tumbled by 666 points on Monday owing to political instability.
The pressure continued throughout the week and the benchmark KSE index closed the week at 29,381, down 3.1 per cent WoW. Heavy weight sectors such as oil & gas and banks plunged by 3.4 per cent and 2.8 per cent WoW, respectively. Meanwhile, average daily trading volumes dropped to 129 million shares as the local investors opted for a 'wait and see' approach. However, foreigners took this as an opportunity which resulted in a net foreign inflow of $22 million, he added.
He further said that the corporate results failed to boost the market sentiment as the OGDC lost 3.8 per cent WoW, despite announcing a cash dividend of Rs3 per share.
Other key news highlights of the week were July 2014 CPI clocking in at 7.88 per cent
YoY, the commencement of talks between Pakistan and IMF in Dubai and the government fetching Rs 87 billion in the T-bills auction, Raheel mentioned.
The KSE witnessed a huge crash on Monday fell sharply by 666 points and the benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 29,647.83 points.
On Tuesday, the Karachi equity market observed some recovery and the benchmark KSE-100 index inched up by 28.58 points to close at 29,676.41.
Investors remained cautious on Wednesday and the benchmark KSE-100 index lost another 293.44 points to close at 29,383.
On Thursday, the share market witnessed a positive trend and the benchmark KSE-100 gained 154.07to close at 29537.04 points.
On the last trading day of the week, the benchmark KSE-100 index remained negative to close at 29380.50 points, declined further by 156.54 points.