KARACHI – The Karachi stock market fell to five-month low on Thursday on political turbulence after the Army warned PM of grievous consequences on allegations and the defence secretary was sacked.
The bench mark KSE 100-share index shed 21.37 points or 0.20 per cent to close at 10909.12 points as compared to 10930.49 points of the previous session. KSE Allshare index fell 12.69 points or 0.17 per cent to end at 7575.14, KSE 30-index lost 7.84 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 10060.65 while KMI 30-index decreased 8.01 points or 0.04 per cent to stop the day at 19840.55 levels.
Samar Iqbal, Analyst at Topline Securities, said that due to rising political noise and tussle like situation between the government and the armed forces the Karachi market hit a 5-month low. Investors remained cautious ahead of the 16 Jan hearing in the Supreme Court. Fertilizer stocks saw some activity ahead of better than expected full year results.
Trade volume fell to 21.120 million shares from the previous 23.057 million shares and loosers beat the gainers 100 to 81, with 117 shares holding on the last levels.
Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim was the active leader in local bourse with 2.666 million shares as it closed at Rs 43.29 after opening at Rs 43.37, losing Re 0.07, followed by National Bank, Fatima Fertilizer Company, Fauji Fertilizer and KESC with the turnover of 1.966 million, 1.909 million, 1.712 million and 1.276 million shares respectively.
Prominent gainers were led by Nestle PakistanXD and Tri-Pack Films, up by Rs 17.38 and Rs 4.96 while looserd were led by Bata Pakistan Limited and Al-Ghazi TractorXD off by 38.75 and 8.46 respectively.
“Trading remained thin amid mourning and public holiday in Sindh province on demise of spiritual leader. Investor interest was witnessed in blue chip banks, cement and fertilizer scrips on rising local fertilizer, cement prices and expectations for strong corporate result announcements due early next week despite concerns for energy shortfall for the industrial sector,” said Ahan Mehanti, Director Arif Habib Investments, in his analysis.