Pakistan equities close marginally negative amidst dull volumes

Author: Staff Report

Pakistan equities closed Thursday negative with benchmark KSE-100 Index losing 37 points, closing at 40,507 levels, down 0.1 percent.

Mix trend was seen during the day where Cements remained the major laggards as local investors booked profits. As such, DG Khan Cement Limited (DGKC) and Maple Leaf Cement Limited (MLCF) traded at their lower limits.

Index heavyweights Financial and Energy sectors supported the KSE100 Index as United Bank Limited (UBL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) posted gains.

“We expect market to take support at 40,100 points level. With IMF negotiations at the fore, related developments will determine the course of market direction”, said equity analyst Muhammad Arbash.

CHCC lost 1 percent value following announcement of its first half FY19 EPS at Rs5.82 with no cash payout. Fertilizers also came under the hammer where ENGRO (-0.5%), FFC (-0.4%) and EFERT (-0.5%) closed in the red zone.

Mixed sentiments were seen in Banking sector where HBL (+0.7%), MCB (+0.3%) and UBL (+2.9%) closed in the green. On the other hand, BAHL (-0.8%) and BAFL (-1.4%) were the major laggards of the aforementioned sector. In Chemicals, LOTCHEM (-1.9%) reported its 2018 EPS of Rs2.93 with no cash payout. MTL (-1.3%) also reported 1HFY19 consolidated EPS of Rs41.11 with no dividend.

Daily traded value stood at $45 million, down 14 percent and volume stood at 124 million shares, down 23 percent. Major contribution to total market volume came from LOTCHEM (-1.9%), DGKC (-4.6%) and FCCL (-3.5%).

An equity analyst Danish Ladhani expects market to remain range bound and recommend investors to keep an eye on IMF-related updates and the Saudi crown prince’s visit to Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, February 15^th2019.