Daily Times

In continuation to the declining trend, the KSE100 index further slipped during Monday’s trading hours to make an intraday low of -550 points. However, recovery was witnessed later to some extent as the index closed at 41,582 points level, down 160 points.

Market opened and traded in negative zone throughout the day, making an intra-day low of -550 points, as investors worried about stalemate on policy direction to address the structural economic issues.

Sentiments were also driven south on weekend news of Senate Panel demanding removal of 7.5 percent Deemed Duty incentive extended to Pakistan Refiners – Attock Refinery (ATRL)lost 4.0 percent value trading at its lower circuit during the day.

Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting held Monday could not conclude into any meaningful decisions on Circular Debt, as expected. The Committee however announced that they will be resuming Urea production from two defunct plants, including Agritech Limited (AGL). On the economic front, the US military said it has made a final decision to cancel $300 million in aid to Pakistan that had been suspended over Islamabad’s perceived failure to take decisive action against militants, in a new blow to deteriorating ties.

Elixir Securities’ analyst Muhammad Arbash said the announcement was again in-line with our view, though further gains in the stock will be driven by the final decision on concessional pricing on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to these manufacturers. Meanwhile Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation reading for August 2018 was announced at 5.84 percent year-on-year (YoY).

“With KSE100 coming off by 2.3 percent in the preceding month, we see market consolidating around its current levels as investors await newly formed government’s announcements on Policy Steps to address growing twin deficits”, added Arbash.

Traded volumes remained dull with 159 million shares exchanging hands. Top volume stocks today were K-Electric, Engro Polymer Chemical Limited (EPCL) and Unity Foods.

Major contributors that dragged the index down were, Oil Gas Development Company (OGDC), Bank Alflah Limited, Dawood Hercules, Lucky Cement and Indus Motor Company as they cumulatively contributed -60 points to the index.

Published in Daily Times, September 4^th 2018.