KARACHI, Nov 23: Shares witnessed profit-taking on the Karachi Stock Exchange on Friday ahead of weekend holidays. The KSE-100 index shed 13.42 points to close at 16,237.59 points.
Traders said that investors were concerned about the law and order situation during the week-end which would coincide with the Muharram holidays. But the fact that the index managed to stay above the 16,200 levels showed that there was no panic at the market.
The significant feature of the day was investors’ enthusiasm in textile (spinning, weaving and composite) sector, where as many as 31 stocks closed at their ‘upper circuit’ — the term refers to a maximum of 5 per cent increase in the price of any stock allowed in a day’s trading.
The textile sector, which has been the laggard for many years, seems suddenly to have seized investor attention as they continued to accumulate second and third tier stocks in the sector. Equity dealer, Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities said that the cautious investors preferred to book profit amid fear of law and order situation over the weekend. Investors’ interest remained confined towards mid cap stocks as Fauji and Maple Leaf Cement together contributed 37 per cent of volume.
Although number of shares traded remained high at 251 million shares compared to 231 million shares traded on Thursday, but volume in terms of rupees decreased to Rs 3.7 billion, from Rs4.2 billion the earlier day. Market capitalisation was about unchanged at Rs4.071 trillion.
To round off the week, analyst Furqan Ayub at JS Global said that the local bourse continued to show signs of consolidation this week as the deteriorating law and order situation in the country kept investors jittery.
Investor interest was mainly skewed towards second and third tier stocks while strong fundaments of the cement and the textile sector also attracted attention.
Overall KSE-100 Index gained 40 points during the week to close at 16,238 levels. Average volumes stood at 253mn shares while foreigners bought shares worth $5.7m on a net basis.
On the macro front, Pakistan reported a current account surplus of $258m in 4MFY13 versus a deficit of $1.7bn in 4MFY12. Moreover, oil sales figures were released this week with 4MFY13 consumption down 4%YoY.
Other key news highlights of the week included: Payment of another instalment to the IMF; reduction in age limit on imported cars to 3 years from 5 years and hike in wheat support price.
Out of the 363 scrips that came up for trading on Friday, 222 ended in the plus territory; 120 in minus and 21 stayed unchanged.
The biggest gainer for the day was Unilever Food which rose by Rs180 to Rs3960, followed by Rafhan Maize Products higher by Rs150 to Rs 3700. Among the declining scrips, Colgate Palmolive gave up Rs50 to Rs 1250 and Wyeth Pak was down by Rs 19 to Rs 926.
The volume leader among the ten-top briskly traded shares was Fauji Cement, which yet again reported huge turnover of 62 million shares, though the price at the close showed no change during the day. Maple Leaf Cement, another small investors’ delight, added 23 paisa to close at Rs 15.47 on 32 million shares.
Byco Petroleum with trading seen in 11 million shares rose 17 paisa to Rs 10.69 on 11 million shares. Pervez Ahmed third-tier scrip also came up for trading on Friday with the gain capped at the upper limit of Re1 to Rs3.73 on 9 million shares. Dewan Motors improved by 38 paisa to Rs 3.23 on 7 million shares.
Jahangir Sidd Co saw volume of 6 million shares with the stock down by 11 paisa to Rs 15.53. First Capital Securities Corporation, another third tier stock added 79 paisa to Rs4.51 on 6 million shares; Colony Mills closed at the ‘upper circuit’ of Re1 to Rs5.95 on 5 million shares; Nishat Mills was better by 5 paisa to Rs63.32 on 4m shares, but Azgard Nine shed 8 paisa to Rs8.60 on 4 million shares.