KARACHI: KSE-100 Index declined by 434 points week-on-week to 38,646 points owing to 3.6% WoW slide in PKR/USD and deadlock on Delimitation Act which could delay general elections. Pakistani rupee depreciation caused cements (-6.0%WoW), engineering (-9.0%WoW), OMCs (-2.8%WoW), autos (-2.7%WoW), and refineries (-8.8%WoW) valuations to decline contributing -214/-83/-53/-52/-40 points to index whereas E&Ps (+1.9%WoW) drove index up by 117 points.
Trading activity picked up during the week where average daily traded value rose by 14% to $61 million. Individuals/foreigners remained major net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $17.8 million, $8.9 million during the week. Banks/companies/mutual funds absorbed the major selling with net buying of $11.3 million, $10.7 million and $6.5 million. “The index posted a strong recovery on the final day of the week as the market welcomed Supreme Court decision of not opening Hudaibiya Paper Mills case (against Sharif family), which could have alleviated the political uncertainty. However for next week, risks related to potential development on Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s (PAT) protests against ruling party PML-N’s Model Town case incident increased. On the flip side, possible resolution of deadlock regarding Delimitation Act in upcoming days may provide boost to investors’ sentiment,” analysts said.
Published in Daily Times, December 17th 2017.