Karachi stock market ended lower as it failed to carry opening momentum while midday profit taking by cautious investors over below expectations corporate earnings pushed index in red zone.
Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 index lost 151.59 points to close at 34,386.86 points as compared to 34,538.45 of previous session. KSE-30 index fell by 118.36 points and closed at 22,317.36 points as against 22,435.72 points of last closing.
Elixir Securities' analyst Haris Ahmed Batla said, "Pakistan equities opened positive but failed to carry momentum as late selling pushed in the index in red".
Lower than expected earnings announcement by Pakistan Oil Fields dragged it 0.6 percent down in early trade that kept the stock volatile while Attock Refinery went 5 percent down to hit lower price limit after positing negative earnings for its first half. Investors seemed cautious over 34,500 opting to book profits in wider market closing 1st tier cement, financials and textile in red.
"We continue to expect volatile trade in earnings season and recommend selective buying", said Batla.
Habib Metropolitan Financial Services analyst said, "KSE-100 index traded in a negative territory as equities shed 151 points to close at 34,386 points".
Black clouds hovered over Karachi Electric as KES Power Ltd (Abraaj Capital) decided to offload 1.38 billion shares of the Company at a lower rate of Rs 8.5 per share. Despite of the news of receiving Rs 40 billion for oil import, Pakistan State Oil ended in red zone along with Attock Petroleum Limited and Hascol.
Majority of the cement and fertilizer stocks were in red today with the exception of Fauji twins on the expectation of better earnings to be announced this week. "As earning season is in full swing, we expect market to remain volatile while results will determine the direction of the benchmark", said analyst.
The market volume decreased to 234.729 million shares traded on Wednesday as compared to 340.272 million shares traded in previous session. The overall market capitalisation declined to Rs 7.796 trillion as compared to Rs 7.839 trillion of previous session.
Trading value at local bourse reduced to Rs 15.214 billion against Rs 22.999 billion of previous session. Out of 382 scrips, 105 scrips advanced, 257 scrips declined while the value of 20 scrips remained unchanged.
The KMI-30 index dropped by 326.67 points to close at 54,146.27 points as compared to 54,472.94 points of the previous session. The KSE all-share index went 135.65 points down to close at 24,725.31 points as compared to 24,860.96 points of the previous session.
Jah Sidd Company was the volume leader in the market with 15.857 million shares as it closed at Rs 18.36 followed by K-Electric Limited with trading of 14.259 million shares and closed at Rs 8.86. Maple Leaf Cement traded 11.229 million shares and closed at Rs 49.26.
