Pakistan stocks fall as foreign selling continues

Stocks fell on Tuesday as continued foreign selling and political confrontation took a toll on the market sentiments during the second consecutive day, analysts said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stocks closed lower on institutional profit taking amid concerns over surging foreign outflows and uncertainty about an outcome of panama case hearings in the Supreme Court.

“Concerns about weak exports, circular debt issues and regulatory oversight on equity mutual funds to maintain five percent cash played a catalytic role in bearish close,” Mehanti said.  

The KSE 100-share Index shed 0.43 percent or 209.89 points to close at 48,678.65 points.

KSE 30share Index fell 0.66 percent or 173.82 points to end at 26,339.87 points. As many as 415 scrips were active; of which 130 increased, 272 decreased and 13 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 379.653 million as compared to 316.062 million shares a day earlier.

Analysts said late session support was witnessed in the selected oil and banking stocks as robust earnings are expected.

Analyst Abrar Juma at Global Research said the market succumbed to the selling pressure soon after the opening bell owing to the ongoing Panama case hearing and a potential sell-off from overbought mutual funds.

“Major laggards turned out to be the financial sector for the third consecutive day owing to a possible foreign selling,” Juma said.

Leading banks, like MCB (down 0.6 percent), UBL (0.57 percent) and HBL (1.98 percent) contributed 93 points in the total decline.

ICI, up 2.57 percent, received an increased investor interest after an announcement that the company would have a 51 percent equity stake in a joint venture project, which included Unibrands and Morinaga.

Companies, reflecting highest gains, included Unilever Foods (up Rs150 to end at Rs5,900/share) and Rafhan Maize (up Rs140 to close at Rs7,950/share).

Companies, with highest losses, included Service Industries (down Rs37.02 to close at Rs1,540.25/share) and Lucky Cement (down Rs28.52 to end at Rs8,53.71/share).

Highest volumes were witnessed in Sui Southern Gas Company with a turnover of 22.577 million shares. The scrip inched up 53 paisas to close at Rs39.17/share. Faysal Bank was second with a turnover of 21.292 million shares. It rose Rs1.23 to end at Rs25.84/share. Aisha Steel Mill was third with a turnover of 15.732 million shares. It increased 43 paisas to finish at Rs18.42/share.