Stocks wilt on future rollover, political uncertainty

Stocks fell on Monday following a rocky last week, with investor sentiment hurt by ongoing political crisis in the country, while future’s rollover also kept pressure in the market, dealers said.
They said market started the week on negative note as the index remained in red throughout the session given rollover pressure, absence of triggers despite end of the weeks’ protest near Islamabad.
Brokerage Arif Habib Limited said index opened the day in red and maintained the color throughout the day and despite the resolution of political turmoil, investors took bearish bets.
“Nonetheless, activity was sharp during the early trading hours but was tilted towards KEL, which brimmed with investors’ confidence due to Shanghai Electric’s firm stand on long term investment in its infrastructure to the tune of $9.0 billion.”
Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 shares index shed 0.54 percent or 216.24 points to close at 40,032.17 points. KSE-30 shares index shed 0.70 percent or 142.6 points to close at 20,187.30 points. As many as 348 scrips were active of which 137 advanced, 187 declined and 24 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 110.95 million shares as compared with the turnover of 106.33 million shares a day earlier. An analyst at Elixir Securities said equities extended losses into the new week with benchmark index finding footing over the critical 40K level. “Despite the end of three-week long sit-in in the morning by the religious hardliners that reached its peak over the weekend, market opened lower and remained under pressure throughout the day on institutional selling.”
Notable Index names including, Hub Power (down 3.0 percent), Engro Corp (down 2.8 percent), Oil & Gas Development Company (down 1.3 percent), Habib Bank (down 0.9 percent) leading losses on reported institutional selling amid shallow depth of bids on screen.
Turnover on KSE All Shares Index stood at paltry $40 million for the entire day while small and mid caps dominated volumes chart. K-Electric remained on buyers’ radar over positive news flow related to its deal with Chinese buyer Shanghai Electric Power.
Going forward, analysts expect volatile and choppy trading to continue with institutional flows eventually setting the tone in wider market.
Companies reflecting highest gains include Nestle Pakistan up Rs400 to close at Rs10,850/share and Rafhan Maize up Rs288.99 to close at Rs6,988.99/share.
Companies reflecting most losses include Service Industries down Rs29.80 to close at Rs770.20/share and Sapphire Textile down Rs28.84 to end at Rs1,745.01/share.  
Highest volumes were witnessed in K-Electric with a turnover of 39.99 million shares. The scrip gained 25 paisas to close at Rs6.26/share. TRG Pakistan was second with a turnover of 12.53 million shares. It gained Rs1.78 to close at Rs37.39/share. Worldcall Telecom was third with a turnover of 6.68 million shares. It shed 01 paisa to finish at Rs3.0/share. 