Energy stocks weigh down Karachi share market

Karachi equities’ euphoria on Tuesday subsided as falling global oil prices following a historic Iran-western powers deal spooked investors, analysts said.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Commodities said stocks closed lower on late session profit-taking in the overbought scrips.
“Oil stocks were battered after a plunge in WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude prices near to $51/bbl on reports of Iran nuclear deal and Greek eurozone bailout,” Mehanti said.
Six world powers sealed a historic accord to curb the Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions on it, bringing pressure on international oil prices.
The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share Index fell 49.73 points, or 0.14 percent, to end at 35,446.89 points. KSE 30-share Index shed 142.63 points, or 0.64 percent, to close at 22,085.65 points.
As many as 380 scrips were active; of which 210 advanced, 142 declined and 28 remained unchanged.
The ready market volumes stood at 417.399 million shares as compared to 345.542 million shares in the last trading session.
Moving forward analysts are expecting the market to remain volatile before Eid holidays.
Dealers said investors even shrugged off the strong economic outlook as the record $18.5 billion home remittances in the last fiscal year jacked up foreign exchange reserves.
Analyst Arham Ghous at JS Global Capital said the market opened on a positive note as the cement sector led the rally, but profit-taking was witnessed after the news of Iran-western deal came in.
“Due to this, oil sector came under pressure, as PSO, OGDC, PPL and POL closed down 0.9 percent, 4.7 percent, 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively,” Ghous said.
K-Electric inched up 0.3 percent, but the scrip remained under pressure as the government is reviewing the utility’s privatisation.
Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim gained 4.7 percent and continued its euphoric growth on optimistic expectation of investors towards its upcoming financial result.
“Bank Islami closed at its upper circuit as the State Bank of Pakistan granted Rs20 billion as a loan to the bank for meeting its minimum capital requirement,” Ghous said.
Highest volumes were witnessed in Dewan Salman with a turnover of 32.295 million shares.
The scrip inched up 55 paisas to close at Rs3.42/share. It was followed by Azgard Nine with a turnover of 24.786 million shares.
It rose 51 paisas to end at Rs7.80/share. Byco Petroleum was the third with a turnover of 20.107 million shares. It moved up Rs1.28 to finish at Rs27.04/share.