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Friday March 29, 2024

Bears reign supreme on Panama secret; bulls forage oil supports

By Javed Mirza
March 19, 2017

Bears are likely to keep ruling the roost as investors are anxiously awaiting political outcomes of Panamagate, while international oil price movement would also set the market direction in the coming week, dealers said.

Clouds of negative sentiments and skepticism loomed over the market during the week ended March 17.   

“Index remained under pressure as political noise, low international oil price and stern action by the regulator kept the sentiments negative,” Elixir Securities said in a report.

The KSE 100-share Index of Pakistan Stock Exchange shed 1.58 percent or 782.09 points to close the week at 48,409.66 points. KSE 30-share Index fell 2.43 percent or 648.73 points to end at 25,956.29 points.

Analyst Faizan Ahmed at JS Global said overall activity remained thin as average trading volumes declined 22 percent to 186 million shares/day from 238 million shares/day during the previous week.

“Habib Bank Ltd’s traded volume witnessed a 10-year high of 15.6 million shares on the last trading session of the week on the back of inclusion to the ‘Global Equity Index Series Asia Pacific of FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange),” Ahmed said.

Foreign investor institutional investors registered a net outflow of $11 million during the outgoing week.

Selling was observed in almost all the major heavyweights as banks were down 2.4 percent, oil marketing companies declined 1.7 percent, exploration and production shed 4.7 percent and power generation closed 1.2 percent down during the week.

Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association depicted 24 percent growth in the total car sales. Impressive growth was primarily on account of encouraging sales figure for Pak Suzuki and Honda Cars.

Additionally, Hub Power Company decided to offload 40 percent stake in Thar Energy Limited. Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited was offered 30 percent of the stake, while the remaining 10 percent stake was offered to the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor.

Furthermore, Attock Cement’s subsidiary in Iraq opened a letter of credit, valuing $9.75 million in favour of Chinese supplier for the supply of complete cement grinding mill. The project cost is estimated at $40 million.

Trade deficit widened nearly 35 percent to $20.2 billion. The country’s liquid foreign exchange reserves rose $122.2 million as the State Bank of Pakistan received $200 million under the Coalition Support Fund. Furthermore, the World Bank approved a financial assistance of $450 million, while US Federal Reserve raised its short-term rate by a quarter-point to a range of 0.75 percent to one percent.