Stocks fall on weak oil; volume touches three-year low

Stock traded lower on Friday on a drop in oil prices while volume hit a three-year low as political uncertainty and budget jitters sent investors in search of safer investments, dealers said.

Analyst Ali Raza at Elixir Securities said equities slipped on last day of the week on across-the-board selling with volumes seen on benchmark KSE-100 index were lowest in almost three years. “Market opened on lackluster note and drifted lower as the session progressed with index names witnessing very selective participation likely due to shorter trading duration on Friday during holy month of Ramadan.”

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) benchmark index shed 0.86 percent or 431.41 points to close at 49,526.92 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 0.93 percent or 242.50 points to close at 25,842.37 points. As many as 348 scrips were active of which 95 advanced, 231 declined and 22 remained unchanged.  The ready market volumes stood at 208.573 million shares as compared with the turnover of 268.794 million shares a day earlier. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Limited said stocks closed lower amid pressure in scrips across the board as investors weigh weak global crude prices.

“Upbeat data on urea sales for May 2017 supported fertilizer stocks.  However, uncertainty over outcome of JIT investigations under Panama case played a catalytic role in bearish close,” Mehanti said.

Companies reflecting highest gains include Jubilee Life up Rs28 to close at Rs800/share and Abbot Laboratories up Rs25.33 to close at Rs969.70/share. Companies reflecting most losses include Bata Pakistan down Rs178.60 to close at Rs3620/share and Wyeth Pakistan down Rs59.50 to end at Rs2225/share.

Dealers said almost all sectors closed lower and pulled benchmark index to test and close near 49,500 level, barring select pharmaceuticals that ended higher on reported institutional interest. Commercial banks heavyweights including MCB (down 1.25 percent), Habib Bank (down 1.65 percent), United Bank (UBL) (down 1.82 percent) and National Bank (NBP) (down 1.35 percent) cumulatively contributed 130 points to the negativity in the market.

In auto sector, Indus Motors (INDU) declined 0.97 percent on back of the news that the company had recalled 2,700 cars due to faulty mounting bolts.

In spite of positive news in the cement sector regarding a price increase, Lucky Cement (LUCK) down 0.43 percent, DG Khan Cement  down 0.83 percent and Kohat Cement down 1.02 percent were the major laggards.

Analysts see foreigners’ activity to guide market direction next week with volumes picking up as investors look forward to the implementation of much-awaited leverage product that is expected to bring fresh flows to the market.

Highest volumes were witnessed in Power Cement (R) with a turnover of 25.699 million shares. The scrip shed 39 paisas to close at Rs1.20/share. Engro Polymer was second with a turnover of 18.794 million shares. It shed Rs1.19 to end at Rs36.90/share. Worldcall Telecom was third with a turnover of 15.814 million shares. It gained 25 paisas to finish at Rs3.51/share.