In spite of a cut in the discount rate, the bourse continued continued to be over ran by bears as the index took another beating yesterday.
At close on the first session of the week, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index fell 1.54% or 489.53 points to close at 31,310.73.
JS Global analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan, was of the view that after the 350-point addition on Friday, it was presumed by all that the foreign selling spree had ended and the market would exit its downward trajectory. “But to everyone’s surprise, foreign selling continued and, as usual, local investors followed,” he said.
Khan further informed that the LNG import deal was to be signed by the Emir of Qatar on Tuesday and the fertiliser sector had been exempted from GIDC on the consumption of LNG.
“In the long run, fertiliser is the play with top picks being Fauji Fertilizer Company (+2.5%) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (+1.1%). Though the cut in the interest rate is a long term negative for the banking sector, yet short term gains can be made on scripts that have high PIBs holdings.”
“Favored scripts for short play in banking would be BAHL (+2.0%) and UBL (+0.6%),” Khan concluded.
Trade volumes fell to 128 million shares compared to 141.8 million on Friday.
Shares of 344 companies were traded on Tuesday. Of these, 243 companies declined, 79 closed higher and 22 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.6 billion
Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 14.5 million shares, gaining Rs0.04 to close at Rs50.72. It was followed by Jahangir Siddiqui and Company with 9.3 million shares, losing Rs0.22 to close at Rs15.80 and Maple Leaf Cement with 9 million shares, losing Rs1.56 to close at Rs52.89.
Today, pmrime Minster Mean Nawaz Sharif also visited the Karachi Stock Exchange.
