Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan equities remained in correction mode on Wednesday amid profit taking and global uncertainty. The Benchmark KSE 100 index closed slightly in the negative by 36 points or 0.07 percent to close at 48,642 level.

The day kicked off on a positive note and stocks inched upwards on local value buying however the market pared gains midday on profit-taking and on reports of aggressive foreign selling. Oil & Gas Development Company opened to close down the gap and tested lower price limits intra-day on rumors of a possible stake divestment of a government holding by as much as 5 percent in the market. Stock declined by 5 %.

Pressure remained on blue chip stocks at PSX amid uncertainty in global equities. Institutional support witnessed in selected auto, cement and banking stocks amid speculations in the earning season. Weak global crude prices, surging foreign outflows and concerns over outcome of the PM’s Panama case hearings played a catalyst role in bearish close, said Ahsan Mehanti, senior stock analyst.

Pak Electron hit an upper price limit and churned top volumes on the day, the most since July 2016 to close at a high since August of 2015, on reported institutional interest. PPL announced below than expected EPS of Rs 0.9 along with a cash dividend of Rs 3.5 per share on ordinary shares and Rs 0.75 per share on convertible preference shares. Resultantly PPL declined by 0.3 percent.

Earnings fell short of our expectations in 4QFY16 mainly on the back of higher than anticipated, effective tax rates and field expenses. One of the reasons for a higher effective tax rate was imposition of a 3 percent super tax, while higher field expenses were on account of dry well costs, said analysts at Topline Securities.

PAEL closed on a high on expectation of improved upcoming corporate results. On the back of Roshan packaging book building, interest was seen in other packaging companies. PKGS, CEPB and MERIT gained between 1.5 -5 percent. Overall, volumes decreased by 9 percent to 330 million shares, while value decreased by 2.2 percent Rs 21.9 billion/$208 million.

On Tuesday 363 million shares Rs22.4 billion/$211 million. On Monday 316 million shares worth Rs 20.2 billion/$194 million were traded at the bourse. Pak Elektron emerged as the top volume leader with 19 million shares traded followed by Bank of Punjab 19 million, Oil and Gas Development Company 12 million, Silk Bank 12 million, Aisha Steel Mill 11 million, K-electric 9 million, and Faysal Bank 8 million shares.

On Wednesday shares of 427 companies were actively traded at the bourse of which shares of 214 companies ended in the green, 192 in the red, while 21 remained unchanged. Analysts expect volatile trading to continue with the benchmark KSE100 Index trading in a range of 300-400 points. “With excitement to pick up, as we near the weekend ceremony of PSX stake-sale to a Chinese consortium. Moreover, earnings and the payout led buying will likely counter headwinds from domestic politics,” said analysts at the Elixir Securities.