Stocks pare some losses on earnings outlook

Stocks managed to recover some of the losses on Friday amid lacklustre trade as attractive financial and oil sectors exerted a pull on investors befuddled by political shocks, dealers said.   “Investor interest remained in shares across the board amid higher global crude prices,” Ahsan Mehanti, analyst at Arif Habib Corp. “Speculations ahead of financial results played a catalytic role in bullish close.”

The KSE 100-share of Pakistan Stock Exchange gained 0.52 percent or 234.46 points to close at 45,294.39 points. KSE 30-share Index was up 0.63 percent or 148.11 points to end at 23,639.59 points. As many as 351 shares were active; of which 208 increased, 126 decreased and 17 remained unchanged.

The ready market volume stood at 122.452 million shares as compared to 148.128 million shares a day earlier. Elixir Securities, in a report, said equities finished higher after seeing volatile trading and dull volumes amid heightened political noise.

“Stocks had a weak start in the morning with uncertainty on domestic politics mainly contributing to lacklustre volumes,” the brokerage added. “The benchmark KSE 100 Index initially traded in narrow range and afterwards witnessed sharp swings on both sides in a 500-points range with investors reacting negatively to news of arrest of Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission on record tempering in Panama case.”

News of Supreme Court completing hearing on case against Prime Minister and his family and reserving verdict for a later date also made headlines during the mid-session break and fueled anxiety among participants.

Contrary to expectations of sharp losses, wider market managed to end on a modest note albeit witnessing wild swings. Oil, financial and select industrial shares mainly contributed to day’s gains, while cement sector witnessed profit-taking and closed lower.

Analysts said monetary policy decision scheduled for Saturday (today) is likely to be a non-event for market next week and majority expects no change in discount rate. Flows are expected to mainly guide the market direction, while news on domestic politics will continue to affect the investors.

Companies, reflecting highest gains, included Sapphire Textile up Rs94.15 to close at Rs1,978.95/share and Mari Petroleum that rose Rs68.34 to end at Rs1,608.50/share. Companies, with most losses, included Bata Pakistan down Rs25 to end at Rs3,025/share and Sanofi Aventis that fell Rs17.15 to close at Rs1,710/share.

Highest volume was witnessed in TRG Pakistan with a turnover of 12.541 million shares. Its stock value gained Rs1.76 to close at Rs38.63/share.

Dewan Motors was the second with a turnover of 8.394 million shares. It was up Rs1.47 to end at Rs40.09/share.

Azgard Nine was the third with a turnover of 6.345 million shares. It gained 63 paisas to finish at Rs11.97/share.