Shares erase losses; institutions support eases selling pressure

The Karachi shares clawed back early losses on Wednesday as a late buying rally by institutional investors boosted fertiliser and cement stocks even as foreign funds were net sellers in the market, dealers said.
Foreigners sold shares valuing $22.5 million and bought $11.4 million, said a Topline market review.
It added that main activity of foreigners was in bank and cement sector with a combined net selling of $8.4 million.
“Going forward, local political situation in the city along with foreign investment will be the key triggers for the market,” said Samar Iqbal at Topline Securities.
The KSE-100 shares index shed 26.98 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 32,539.61 points. KSE-30 shares index gained 3.06 points, or 0.01 percent, to end at 21,131.99 points.
As many as 349 shares were active, of which 137 scrips increased, 188 decreased and 24 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes improved further to 172.417 million shares as compared with 132.469 million shares a day earlier.
Dealers said after a sharp fall of 697 points, or 2.1 percent, in the last two sessions, some support was witnessed. As a result, the benchmark KSE-100 Index, after touching a low of 32,199 points, recovered and closed at 32,540 points.
Samar said though there were some concerns due to the protest of a political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the city, yet later institutional buying was seen in many stocks.
Oil stocks remained under pressure due to falling international crude oil prices, while Lucky Cement recovered 1.1 percent. Other cement shares posted gains. Investors accumulated shared of Engro Corporation, realising that gas price hike would only affect one plant of its subsidiary, Engro Fertilizer.
Arham Ghous at JS Global Capital said the market witnessed a volatile trading session as the KSE-100 Index dipped by 368 points to 32,199 points earlier during the day, before recovering.
“The recovery was led by leveraged cement stocks in anticipation of a discount rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy,” Ghous said.
The key highlights were Maple Leaf Cement, Fauji Cement Company and DG Khan Cement (DGKC) closing 1.8 percent, 1.3 percent and 1.3 percent higher, respectively.
In fertiliser sector, upcoming news of gas tariff hike kept major scrips on the downward trajectory. Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim, Fauji Cement and Engro Fertilizer ended 3.5 percent, 1.0 percent and 0.3 percent lower, respectively.
There was mixed sentiment towards the banking sector as an expected discount rate cut would affect the banking returns.
Moving forward, analysts said the market will remain volatile due to political instability and recommend investors to stay cautious and invest in high dividend stocks.
Highest volumes were witnessed in Pak Elektron with a turnover of 23.773 million shares.
The scrip gained Rs2.27 to finish at Rs54.70/share. It was followed by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) with 9.791 million shares. FFBL lost Rs1.87 to end at Rs51.30/share.
Bank of Punjab (BoP) was the third with a turnover of 9.603 million shares. BoP inched up two paisas to close at Rs10.26/share.