Daily Times

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) started the week in a dull territory as the indices traded within a narrow range before closing the session in 0.72% lower.

Amid expected correction and lack of triggers the investors offloaded stocks to book profits. Irfan Saeed, Senior Vice President BMA Capital, added the market will continue to correct itself as positive triggers in the past week resulted in market being highly over bought. However, the market remains highly attractive and lucrative.

Gaining 184.14 points, the KSE 100 Index recorded its intraday high at 40,916.39 during the initial trading hours. The index then slid to its day’s low at 40,314.94 after losing 417.31 points. It closed lower by 289.45 points at 40,442.80. The KMI 30 Index declined by 205.45 points to settle at 64,005.04, whereas the KSE All Share Index fell short by 79.85 points, ending at 28,783.59. Out of the total traded scripts, 136 advanced, 217 declined while the value of 18 remained unchanged.

Of the 96 traded companies in the KSE 100 Index 33 closed up 61 closed down, while 2 remained unchanged. Total volume traded for the index was 217.62 million shares. The all share volume decreased by 96.84 million to 320.08 million shares. Market cap decreased by Rs 27 billion. The overall trading volumes remained decent and were recorded at 320.08 million, of which 217.62 million came from the KSE 100 scripts.

Sectors propping up the index were Fertilizer with 27 points, Oil & Gas Exploration Companies with 24 points, Food & Personal Care Products with 22 points, Chemical with 8 points and Pharmaceuticals with 7 points.

Sectors driving the KSE 100 Index south included banking chopping off 152.08 points, cement 64.50 points and oil and gas marketing 57.62 points. Among the companies, United Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited and Lucky Cement Limited dented the index the most.

Unity Foods Limited topped the volume chart, followed by Maple Leaf Cement Factory Limited and Lotte Chemical Pakistan Limited. The scripts exchanged 26.85 million, 18.77 million and 15.40 million shares, respectively.

Meanwhile, Pakistan signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) worth $1.3 billion for budgetary support and reforms. Economic Affairs Division Secretary Syed Pervaiz Abbas and ADB Country Director Xiahong Yang signed the accord during a ceremony where Economic Affairs Minister Hammad Azhar was also present, according to a press release. Under the agreement, ADB has committed to providing $1 billion towards the Economic Stabilisation Programme which aims to improve exchange rate management, strengthen public financial management, restore allocative efficiency of scarce public resources and reduce the social impacts of macroeconomic stability measures, said the press release.

Asia: Stock markets traded fractionally higher as markets were upbeat about strong US jobs data as with nonfarm payrolls surged by 266,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, according to US Labor Department numbers.

Investors, however, treaded cautiously amid China’s economic slowdown due to the prolonged trade war between US and China. China’s overseas shipments dropped 1.1% year-on-year in November, below the 1.0% expansion forecast by economists. Imports, on the other hand, rose 0.3% as compared to a year earlier exceeding projections for a 1.8% decline.

In japan ,Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 0.33% higher trading as at 23,430.70 as shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Soft bank Group gained more than 1%. Japan’s economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.8% in the third quarter, according to revised data from the country’s Cabinet Office That was sharply higher than the initial estimate of a 0.2% expansion.

In China the Shanghai composite was 0.08% higher at around 2,914.48, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.14% higher, with protests in the city crossing a 6-month milestone. Demonstrators have been locked in a stalemate with the city’s embattled local government since early June.