KSE sheds 73 points on selling pressure

KARACHI - The KSE 100-index shed 73 points to close at 7,476 points as the bourse witnessed selling activity as the oil prices were adjusted downwards after the SC decision.
Impact of Supreme Court decision on revenue generation by the government kept the market participants in a state of confusion with dynamism missing the alternate solutions are expected to add to the constraints in economic stability.
Availability of main board stocks and the likely beneficiaries of upcoming events in a bearish market and at discounted levels from previous close, however, continued to invite buying interest, thereby restricting the index from an unprecedented decline.
The benchmark-100 index started the day in red zone, losing 11.24 points and remained in negative side till the end of the day, closing at 7,476.11 points with a loss of 73.26 points.
Trading activity was reduced to 118.099 million shares as compared to last trading sessions 197.677 million shares. Total trading value of the market decreased to Rs 5.112b from Rs 9.876b of last session.
Market capitalisation came down to Rs 2.206tr from last sessions Rs 2.226tr. Of 299 active scrips at the KSE, 102 advanced, at least 182 declined and the value of 14 cos remained unchanged.
Selling pressure was a result of plunge in international oil prices to $63 per barrel affecting oil sector valuations, said market expert Ahsan Mehanti adding, uncertainty in international capital markets, limited activity by foreign investors and high investment cost remained a major concern for investors. Once again, DGKC was crowned as the volume leader of the day with a turnover of 14.341 million shares on Wednesday, followed by JSCL with 13.373m shares, Nishat Mills 7.741m shares, Azgard Nine 6.488m shares, AHSL 6.005m shares, PTCL (SPOT) 5.334m shares, OGDC 4.625m shares, Pak Reinsurance 4.222m shares, Lucy Cement 4.204m shares namely.
Leading gainers at the market include Shezan International, up by Rs6.10/share to close at Rs128.10 with the trading of only 100 shares, Bata Pak gained rs5/share, closing at Rs610, Packages Limited added Rs3.98/share and its value was improved to Rs158.19, Atlas Battery up by Rs3.83/share and closed at Rs150.51, National Foods gained Rs3.71/share to close at Rs78.02, Arif Habib added Rs3.55/share and closed at Rs74.57.
On the other side, Fazal Textile lost Rs17.37 to close at Rs330.10 with a turnover of 100 shares, Colgate Palm lost Rs9/share and closed at Rs290, Attock Refinery down by Rs7.02/share and its value was decreased to Rs135.53, PSO lost Rs6.40/share to close at Rs231.83, Attock Petroleum down by Rs6.37/share and closed at Rs332.09, National Refinery lost Rs5.45/share to close at Rs226.81.
With the optimistic out come of upcoming events already priced in, as reflected by the recent rise in trading band to 7200-7700, the local bourses are desperately in need of a trigger to breach the trading band since the leverage product is still missing to cater liquidity needs, an extended range bound activity might lead to price erosion.
Materialisation of commitments made by the Advisor on Finance on his recent visit to KSE is, however, essential for the growth of the local equity markets mainly on account of introduction of leverage products both for ready board and futures market, stated Research Analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali.