Oil scrips lead decline on stock market
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KARACHI: Stocks retreated on Monday with the KSE-100 index down by 137.96 points to close at 36,084.67.
The market remained volatile with the index oscillating between the intra-day gains and losses of 120 and 190 points. Market participants attributed the index closing in the red to the falling international oil prices which impacted the oil and gas sector.
“Heavyweight OGDCL and POL fell by 1.1 per cent and 1.8pc, respectively. After rallying in last few sessions, auto stocks saw some profit-taking”, said dealers at brokerage Topline Securities.
Foreign investors continued to accumulate at dips reflecting an inflow of $2.73m. Companies also purchased stocks worth $3.76m. Banks took to profit-taking with sale of $1.19m, while individuals extended further selling to offload stocks worth $3.64m.
Volume remained low at 265m shares of the trading value of Rs12.4bn with small-cap stocks again dominating the volume leaders list. Silkbank (R) saw the heaviest trading in 19.4m shares, though the scrip closed at only 22 paisa.
Among key news flows was the successful conclusion of discussions between the IMF staff mission and Pakistani authorities on the 8th review paving the way for release of SDR 360m (about $502m) early next month.
Analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS Global confirmed that the oil sector remained under pressure throughout the session. NRL, however, gained 2.4pc.
Local cement dispatches grew 4.19pc which triggered positive sentiments in the sector with major gainers as CHCC up 1.5pc, DGKC 0.6pc and MLCF 0.1pc. Engro Fertilisers and Engro Corporation closed higher by 0.4pc and 2.3pc.
Dealers at KASB Securities believed that the pull back of the index indicated negative mood in the last trading session as it closed below its previous all-time high.
Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2015
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