Karachi shares fall in late sell-off, banks slip

Karachi stocks slipped in late trading on Friday, losing ground for the fifth session in a row, as the directionless trade knocked resource-related shares lower in rollover week of future contracts, dealers said.
Analyst Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities said the bourse closed in negative zone on selling in index heavy weight MCB Bank while investors also booked profits in cement stocks on expectation of fewer sales in February.
“Faysal Bank Limited (FABL) and Bank Al-Falah Limited (BAFL) rallied after announcing better December results,” Iqbal said. “Institutional support was seen in Engro Corp (ENGRO) and Engro Fertilizers Limited (EFERT) with healthy volumes.” The KSE-100 Index closed lower by 130.61 points or 0.39 percent to 33,632.19 points against 33,762.80 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 33,895.77 points while the lowest level of the day was recorded at 33,581.74 points.
KSE-30 Index also decreased by 110.49 points or 0.50 percent to 21,916.86 points against 22,027.35 points.
Turnover increased by 39 million shares to 208.13 million shares against 169.61 million shares, trading value improved to Rs13.19 billion against Rs8.58 billion while market capital fell to Rs7.61 trillion against Rs7.62 trillion recorded in the last session. Of a total of 362 companies’ active in the session, 107 closed in green, 237 in red whereas 18 remained unchanged.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said soft crude prices, falling banking spreads and thin margins in cement sector impacted the sentiments at the KSE despite strong results in banking, cement and auto sector.
Interest rate-sensitive stocks ended mixed on indications of a possible rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) early next month amid falling PIB yields, he added.
One analyst said that market needs stimulus for a bull run as the financials of medium sized companies failed to make any major impact on the market sentiment. “Any major buying from foreign fund or lower inflation numbers, expected next week, might play positive role,” the analyst said.
Highest increase was recorded in shares of Colgate Palmolive, which rose by Rs75.00 to Rs1,895.00 per share, followed by Murree Brewery that increased by Rs49.66 to Rs1,098.60 per share. Major decline was noted in shares of Bata (Pak), which fell by Rs189.93 to Rs3,900.17 per share, followed by Wyeth Pak Ltd that decreased by Rs171.88 to Rs3,265.84 per share.
Significant turnover was recorded in stocks of Pak Elektron, K-Electric Ltd, Engro Fertilizers Ltd, Maple Leaf Cement, Engro Corp, Jahangir Siddiqui Co, Faysal Bank, Pak Int Bulk, Pakistan International Airlines and Bank of Punjab.
Pak Elektron remained the volume leader with 19.46 million shares with an increase of 76 paisas to Rs60.50 per share. It was followed by K-Electric Ltd with 15.63 million shares with a decline of 16 paisas to Rs8.06 per share. Shares’ turnover in the futures market increased to 76.10 million shares from 50.63 million shares traded in the previous session.