KARACHI, February 18, 2019: Pakistan’s stock market took negative stance on first working day of the week, despite historical accords signed between Pakistan and Suadi Arabia.
Analysts were expecting positive sentiments in the market ahead of visit of Suadi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, however as against the expectation, Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday closed lower due to selling pressure.
According to AHL report, market opened on a positive note and increased by 168 profit, however, selling pressure ensued that plunged the market by 487 points, while last half hour saw some recovery.
Volumes were led by Cement Sector (that saw FCCL, DGKC and MLCF trading in red). Banking sector also saw selling pressure that brought HBL and UBL trading below yesterday’s close. Although KEL topped the volumes chart, the total volume traded was anemically low of 6.3M shares.
The KSE-100 index closed at 40,219 points as against 40,487 points showing a decline of 267 points (-0.7 percent DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-65pts), anks (-58pts), Fertilizer (-38pts), Power (-16pts) and Pharma (-15pts).
Volumes increased slightly from 93 million shares to 99 million shares (+6% DoD). Average traded value also increased an inch towards US$ 34mn as against US$ 33.8 million the other day (+1% DOD).
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, PAEL, FFL, LOTCHEM and STPL, which formed 27% of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include PSO (+16pts), OGDC (+7pts), NESTLE (+5pts), POL (+4pts), and KTML (+3pts). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-23pts), DGKC (-20pts), DAWH (-18pts), UBL (-18pts) and MARI (-18pts).
Analysts are expecting that market may rebound in coming days as some good initiatives were announced during the visit of Muhammad Bin Salman as he has announced an investment of over 20 billion dollar in Pakistan.
The announced investment is the second highest after the China, which announced over $50 billion three years back under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
