OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE Uncertainty continued to grip the equity market, as the week started off with the news of Osama Bin Ladens death, leading vagueness to prevail at the local bourses. Hence the KSE 100 index ended the week at 11,880 level, down by 178 points, with average volumes remaining dull at 68 million shares. Foreigners turned net buyers of $18 million during the week. The investors eyed plausible implications of the geo-political scenario of the countrys macros. Ahsan Mehanti, Director, Arif Habib Investments Limited observed that bearish activity was witnessed amid thin volumes in overbought market. Fall in global commodities, uncertainty in global capital markets and limited foreign interest played a catalyst role in negative close at KSE despite institutional interest in blue chip banks on strong valuations, he said. Formation of Federal government alliance with PML-Q and MQMs rejoining of the federal cabinet were taken as positive but investors concerns remained on rising circular debt in Pakistan Energy sector and energy shortfall affecting industrial output post major earning announcements at KSE. Uncertainty was further fueled when IMF, World Bank and ADB officials cancelled their respective trips to Pakistan. Even the much awaited relief on inter-corporate debt could not provide the much needed thrust to the market. However, a swift recovery was seen following neutral assessment by Moodys on Pakistans economy where it maintained the countrys credit rating as well as outlook on foreign aid. Yet this remained short lived phenomenon due to melt down in global stocks and commodities on Thursday. FFC concluded the result season with the announcement of its 1Q result, posting a growth of 51 percent (PAT: Rs4.1b) mainly on higher urea prices. Overall corporate profitability for the Jan-Mar quarter registered an impressive growth of 19 percent, with manufacturing sector witnessing a jump of 80 percent, followed by energy (up 16 percent) and services (up 8 percent). The FBS released the CPI for the month of April which came in at 13.04 percent (up 1.62 percent MoM) contributed mainly by food and energy sectors. Due to below consensus inflation figure, yields in the treasury market dropped in the vicinity of 8-18bps in the T-bill auction on Wednesday with 3-mth bill cutoff standing at 13.07 percent, 6mth at 13.48 percent and 12-mth at 13.79 percent. MTS investment (Mon-Thurs) stood at Rs283mn, whereas average rate stood at 17.25 percent compared to 16.62 percent last week. Local equities work in line with falling international equity markets. Colour of international equities and commodities markets was quite prominent at the local bourse, wherein index heavy weight OGDC led the bearish run-up supported by other stocks of the sector. While volumetric activity in ANL and JSCL and technical pull back was triggered by corporate support in NBP besides improving the sentiments. General sentiment however stayed nervous, due to various issues on security and on economic front, with budget around the corner.