Daily Times

KARACHI: Stocks fell across the board on investors’ concerns over political noise and uncertain outcome of PTI sit-in call in Islamabad next week. The terror attack in Quetta also negatively impacted the investors’ sentiments on Tuesday. The KSE 100 index shed 87 points to close at 40764.76 levels.

Late session support in cement and banking stocks supported the index to close above session lows. Dismal economic outlook on exports, current account and rising foreign outflows at PSX played a catalyst role in the bearish close, said Ahsan Mehnti, senior equity analyst.

Soon after the opening bell, stocks plummeted as participants treaded cautiously after terror attack in Quetta and more importantly on latest developments regarding Imran Khan’s planned protest, while concerns were amplified given Tahir Qadri joining hands in an attempt to lock down federal capital Islamabad on November 2, said Ali Raza, equity analyst at Elixir Securities.

The recovery came amid value buying primarily from institutional investors, while rumors of Imran Khan calling off the protests after terror attacks and also unconfirmed rumors of Pakistan’s credit rating upgrade to B1 by Moody’s wiped most of the losses, Raza added. Despite domestic politics and law and order taking the centre stage on Tuesday, earnings announcements reignited interest in select names with Engro Fertilizer Ltd a great example that gained sharply after 3Q payout surprise. The turnover increased on Tuesday to 367 million shares up from 277 million shares traded on Monday while value soared to Rs 11 billion from Rs 9 billion.

The Bank of Punjab remained position as top volume leader with 50 million shares followed by K-electric (27 million), Dost Steel (22 million), Pace Pakistan (15 million), TRG Pakistan (13 million) and Worldcall Telecom (9 million).

Result Announcement: The Engro Fertilizer Ltd announced consolidated 3Q2016 earnings of Rs 2.9 billion, EPS Rs2.2, against Rs 2.7 billion, EPS Rs 2.1, in the same quarter last year. The result was below market consensus estimates. The result was accompanied by interim dividend announcement of Rs 2.5 per share, which was higher than market expectations. This takes 9M2016 dividend to Rs4.5/share. In 3Q2016, revenues of the company increased 33.3 percent YoY to Rs18.6 billion. The prominent rise in revenues is owed to increase in urea off-take to 497,000 tons as compared to 361,000 tons and Diammonium phosphate (DAP) off-take to 111,000 tonnes against 32, 000 tonnes in the same period last year, on the back of subsidy measures taken by the Govt. Gross profit for the company fell 26 percent to Rs 4.9 billion in 3Q2016. Furthermore, other income for the company rose, to Rs 2.3 billion in 3Q2016 as compared to Rs174 million in the same period last year. The rise in other income is a post-subsidy phenomenon as the subsidy disbursements are categorized in this section.

Pak Suzuki Motor Company announced its 3Q2016 result and reported earnings of Rs 438 million (EPS Rs5.32). This result was below market expectations. Company’s sales fell 16 percent YoY to Rs 17.7 billion in 3Q2016. This decline was mainly due to drop in volumetric sales post culmination of Apna Rozgar Taxi Scheme of the Punjab Govt. PSMC’s sales volumes in the outgoing quarter were 25,201 units, a decline of 34 percent YoY (down 17.5 percent YoY to 82,504 units in 9M2016). Excluding Taxi units (Ravi and Bolan), sales were robust as they increased 19 percent YoY in 3Q2016 (34 percent YoY to 78,304 units in 9M2016). The gross profit fell massively by 63 percent YoY to Rs1.3 billion in the outgoing quarter while gross margins contracted by 9ppts to 7 percent . This can be attributed to further around 1.5 percent appreciation of Japanese Yen (JPY) against the local currency to post an aggregate around 0.5 percent appreciation for last two quarters.

Maple Leaf Cement also announced consolidated 1QFY17 earnings of Rs1.2 billion (EPS Rs2.3) as against Rs 847 million (EPS Rs1.6) in the same quarter last year. This result was in-line with market estimates. In 1QFY17, MLCF recorded revenues of Rs 5.5 billion, up 11 percent YoY.