LAHORE - Bears continued to dominate the Pakistan equity market, registering a 5th consecutive fall in KSE 100-index.
The market closed at 41,582 points, down by 160 points, during the trading session. The main reason for the sustained decline is the uncertainty in future economic policy direction of the new government. Moreover, after touching a low of 41,192 during the day, the market rebounded and gained 390 points as the ECC meeting ended without any negative news for the market, contrary to market anticipations. KEL had the largest impact on the market, adding 14 points to the index as news regarding review of the deal between Abraaj group and Shanghai Electric for sale of ~66% stake by the incoming government circulated the print media. Resultantly, the stock was also the market leader in terms of volumes, clocking in at 16.7mn shares traded.
Volumes were down 0.4% to 159m shares and value traded was down 26% to $42.2m as market participants continue to remain on the sidelines, requiring more certainty on economic front.
On Monday, Ghani Glass (GGL) announced FY18 EPS of Rs0.95, up 2.2%YoY. Despite a slight decline in GP margins (down 3ppts), the increase in earnings is attributable to 98% lower taxation. The company also announced a bonus of 5%.
