KARACHI: Stocks retreated on Tuesday with a volatile KSE-100 index closing down by 74 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 40,340.
After reaching an intra-day high of 94 points, the bourse underwent sharp correction to trade down by 285 points from its last close. However, it managed to recover part of its losses before the close.
Second- and third-tier stocks again drove the volume which scaled to 903 million, up from 877m the previous day. The average volume on the KSE-100 index now stands at 162.7m shares during this month against 560.9m shares for the all-share index. Analysts believe this provides room for greater volatility in the near term.
All the top 10 volume leaders on Tuesday belonged to the second- and third-tier stocks, which collectively contributed 425m shares (47pc) to the market volume. Seven of the 10 volume leaders were priced below Rs10.
A report from AKD Securities said that with the global equities awaiting key decisions this week, the local bourse also remains vulnerable to any knee-jerk reaction in the regional markets. The KSE-100 has gained 1.52pc since the beginning of this month, but volume remains concentrated in sideboard scrips.
Moreover, emerging concerns on the political front, with protest from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf near the end of the month, and cross-border tension can keep market participants cautious.
According to Intermarket Securities, contribution to the upside on Tuesday came from Engro Corporation (1.94pc), Dawood Hercules Corporation (2.43pc) and Pakistan Services Ltd (5pc), whereas Murree Brewery fell 3.45pc, MCB Bank 1.22pc and United Bank Ltd 0.62pc.
Analyst Nabeel Haroon at JS Global mentioned that Honda Atlas Cars continued to garner investor interest as it gained to close on its upper circuit. In the exploration and production sector, the Oil and Gas Development Company was down 0.07pc and Pakistan Petroleum 0.35pc.
Published in Dawn September 21st, 2016
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