KARACHI

Pakistan Stock Exchange saw more losses Tuesday on investors’ concerns over political instability and selling pressure in oil stocks after crude oil prices fell below $31/barrel, a 12-year low.
Although Pakistan Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE 100-index yesterday recovered the losses in the early hours of trading but it finally closed in the red, down 54 points at 32,265.65 points.
Sentiments remained weak amid recovery in the late session rally and institutional support in oversold cement, fertilizer, auto and energy stocks on upbeat local cement sales data, auto sales data, and remittances data for Jul-Dec’15, observed analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
Traded volume increased by 47% to 127m shares and traded value also increased by 46% to Rs7.6b.
Despite falling international crude oil prices (WTI crude down 4.4%), exploration & production companies closed in the positive territory as investors opted for attractive valuations being offered by them amid increased flows due to new discoveries. PPL gained 2.22% while OGDC closed 0.04% up, stated dealers at Topline Securities.
Cement and steel sector stocks remained top picks for investors amid falling coal and iron ore prices. Stocks like MUGAL, CSAP, DGKC and CHCC gained in a range 1.03-5%.
CHCC closed at its upper limit as investors are bullish on their timely completion of expansion of new plant which able company to enjoy 5 year tax holiday on new plant, analyst added.
Of total 315 traded companies in the session, 210 culminated in decline, 85 in advance while 20 went unchanged.