Political, security jitters keep stocks under pressure

Stocks inched up in volatile but thin trade on Thursday as investors sat tight for a court order on Panama leaks against the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family, dealers said.

They added that market participants also wary of worsening security situation in the country and preferred to stay on sideline in the futures contracts rollover week. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Limited said stocks closed marginally higher led by selected blue-chip autos, oil and cement scrips on strong earnings outlook.

“Security unrest in Lahore and concerns over regulatory oversight invited midsession pressure,” Mehanti said. “However, record earnings announcements in selected cement, banking and auto stocks supported the index for a positive close.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark KSE-100 shares index gained 0.16 percent or 80.61 points to close at 49,062.26 points. KSE-30 shares index gained 0.34 percent or 89.03 points to end at 26,642.60 points. As many as 411 scrips were active, of which 179 advanced, 215 declined and 17 remained unchanged. The ready market volumes stood at 266.165 million as compared to 379.901 million shares a day ago.

An analyst at the Topline Securities said trading remained choppy and the index fell by 500 points in early trade as traders, waiting for an update on the panama case, squared their position.  “However, the market recovered from its lows as the panama case hearing concluded with the Court stating that no short order would be issued on the matter and that the case would be looked at from all angles.”  Nabeel Haroon at the JS Global said the strain on market activity was on the back of prevailing political and law and order uncertainty. However, revive in market activity helped the index to close in the green zone. Habib Metropolitan Bank (HMB) closed at its upper circuit after it declared EPS of Rs5.85 along with a year-end dividend of Rs3/share.

OGDC up 0.34 percent, POL up 1.64 percent and PPL up 0.03 percent in the E&P sector gained to close in the green zone as crude oil prices rebounded to trade above $54/bbl level. A surge in global crude oil prices was on the back of surprise decline in US oil inventory level. Moving forward, analysts expect market to remain volatile and recommend investors to stay cautious on the last day of the futures rollover week. Companies reflecting highest gains include Service Industries up by Rs70.50 to end at Rs1480.50/share and Island Textiles up Rs53.81 to end at Rs1149.99/share. Companies reflecting highest losses include Wyeth Pakistan down Rs80.49 to Rs4116.33/share and Hinopak Motors down Rs65.91 to end at Rs1589.09/share. Highest volumes were witnessed in K-Electric Limited with a turnover of 19.619 million shares. The scrip gained 10 paisas to close at Rs9.75/share. Aisha Steel was second with a turnover of 19.409 million shares. It gained 34 paisas to end at Rs26.13/share. Power Cement was third with a turnover of 15.271 million shares. It shed 23 paisas to finish at Rs19.43/share.