KARACHI: Stocks endured choppy trade on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index ending about flat, with slight gains of 9.51 points to close at 44,907. For most of the day the benchmark remained under pressure due to heavy institutional selling.

The index succumbed to profit taking and hit the intra-day low by 432 points. The principal reason for the investors’ uneasiness was the foreigners’ selling on Monday after 17 sessions of heavy purchases with the foreign fund managers’ mood difficult to be gauged.

Yet the figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Ltd presented an altogether different picture with banks, companies and mutual funds cutting down their portfolios, while foreigners again becoming net buyers of stocks worth $11.5 million. Another reason for Tuesday’s sell-off was thought to be the roll-over week.

As the results season kicked off, below expected earnings announcements coming from National Refinery, down 0.1pc, Honda Atlas Cars 4.95pc, Attock Cement 2.7pc and Attock Refinery, up 0.85pc, added to investors’ woes. However, better than expected earnings report from International Steels managed to reverse the feeling of uncertainty from the upcoming result season, said Intermarket Securities.

Volume declined by 23pc over the previous day to 226m shares while the traded value was up 1pc to Rs13.3 billion. Sui Southern Gas, Dewan Cement and Pak Elektron were the volume leaders, with cement sector grabbing the spotlight.

Dewan Cement and Pioneer Cement closed at their upper circuit while D. G. Khan Cement and Lucky Cement were up 1.3pc and 1.2pc respectively. The main losers were Habib Bank, contracting by 1.9pc, Engro Corporation 1.7pc, United Bank 0.8pc, Honda Atlas Cars 5pc and Sui Northern Gas 1.8pc.

Mixed sentiments were seen in the steel sector as Amreli Steels, down 1.47pc, closed in red, while Aisha Steels and International Steels were up 0.05pc and 2.15pc respectively.

Top five contributors were Oil and Gas Development Company, up 1.4pc, Dawood Hercules 3.2pc, Pak Oilfields 1.8pc, Lucky Cement 0.7pc and Nestle Pakistan 4.9pc.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018