Bearish spell sets in on stock market

KARACHI: Shares continued to tumble for the sixth consecutive session on Friday with the KSE-100 index down 247.16 points, or 0.54 per cent, to close at 45,808. It rounded off the aggregate weekly losses in the index by 1,097 points.

The market remained volatile swinging between the intraday high of 302 and low by 324 points. Much of the selling pressure came in the closing hour of the second session on profit-booking by banks in the sum of $3.19m. Insurance companies that had dragged the index down a day earlier showed partly net sale of $0.39m. The foreign investors decided to pick up stocks at low prices, hammered by about a week’s sell-off. Foreign buying stood in the net sum of $1.59m.

The trading volume, which crossed a billion shares in the previous two sessions, fell 61pc to 443m. The value also declined by 41pc to $131.7m. The two top traded scrips were the penny stocks WorldCall telecom and Telecard Ltd.

Sector-wise, banks, power, investment banks, fertiliser, automobile assemblers and pharmaceuticals saw profit-taking as investors thought it prudent to liquidate positions ahead of the week-end. The E&P sector was mauled, which analysts attributed to draw-down in international oil prices. Pakistan Oilfields declined 3pc; OGDC was down 1.93pc and Pakistan Petroleum fell 1.50pc.

As seen on most of the sessions during the week, cement shares were in demand where DGKC was up 3.5pc; Maple Leaf 0.8pc and Pioneer 1.7pc. Since the release of Cherat Cement results on Wednesday, D.G. Khan gained 12pc; Pioneer Cement 10pc; Cherat 9pc; Lucky 7pc and Kohat 22pc.

The January cement dispatches were up 16.3pc to 4.73m tonnes. Investors accumulated tractor scrips as Millat Tractors rose 1.65pc and Al-Ghazi Tractors gained 2.36pc on posting impressive monthly sales growth of 30pc and 290pc.

Major scrips that pulled down the index included OGDC, Hub Power; Dawood Hercules; MCB Bank and Pakistan Oilfields Ltd.