KARACHI: Stocks closed flat on Friday with the KSE-100 index recording minor drop of 12.12 points (0.04 per cent) to settle at 32,605.62.

The volumes fell further to 75.5 million shares of Rs3.6 billion value, from 80.3m shares of Rs3.9bn a day earlier.

Foreign investors also decided to wait and see as they sold stocks worth $0.47m.

Analyst Umair Hasan at JS Global commented that the trading commenced on a positive note as the index rose to 133 points intra-day. However, the market soon corrected itself.

Sideboard stocks witnessed activity. In the latter part of the day’s trade, the market posted a slight recovery, from a low of 89 points. Cements stood as the lead choice with FCCL, MLCF and KOHC ending higher by 0.1pc, 0.2pc and 0.6pc.

BAHL, FABL and NBP shed 0.2pc, 0.9pc and 0.2pc, in the banking sector.

Oil and gas sector posted slight recovery as PSO, POL and PPL ended 0.7pc, 0.6pc and 0.3pc higher.

Fertilisers remained under pressure with EFERT and ENGRO down by 0.3pc and 0.6pc.

Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stated that institutional support in oil stocks after recovery in global crude prices led the index to close above session lows.

Selling pressure in blue-chip stocks amid concerns of ongoing security unrest in Saudi-Yemen conflict and pre-budget uncertainty played a catalyst role in bearish activity.

Over the week, the index fell by 434 points (1.3pc) week-on-week as investors remained sidelined on fears of new taxes in the upcoming budget. Average daily volume dipped to nine-month low at 109m shares, representing 43pc decline week-on-week.

Foreign portfolio inflows clocked in at $3.5m, down 44pc week-on-week.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2015

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