Lahore - Uncertainty over Panama case judgment and SECP's crackdown on in-house badla financing continued to haunt investors this week, taking KSE-100 index down by 0.9 percent/432pts WoW to close at 49,192.
One positive development, however, during the week was release of 90 percent PSX sale proceeds to the brokerage houses, leading to improved liquidity.
Overall activity remained lower than last week as both average traded volume and value registered a decline of 21 percent WoW (to 238 million shares/day) and 20 percent WoW (to $109 million/day), respectively.
Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Ltd (FFBL) remained the top performer, gaining 5.2 percent during the week amid rumours of possible increase in local DAP prices, while the overall sector remained jittery following mixed news relating to delay in the reimbursement of subsidy claims and weak urea off-take during Feb-2017.
Other key highlights of the week included: IPPs threatening to invoke sovereign guarantees, banking sector's NPLs declining to an eight year low, cement sales for the month of Feb-2017 declining by 0.41 percent YoY, SSGC, ENGRO reaching a deal to re-gasify 600mmcfd LNG per day, assets in Islamic Banking jumping to Rs1.6trn, HASCOL planning to expand operations in Balochistan and PTC, China Telecom Global signing MoU to establish optical fiber network.
Experts said that bulls were napping in the preceding week, with the KSE-100 dipping 432pts/0.9 percent WoW.
Further, market participation declined with average traded value/volume falling 21%/20% WoW to 238mn.sh/$109mn; as the broker-regulator tussle clipped financing lines, while traders in general threw caution to the wind…weighing possible implications of potential panama-case outcomes.
On the sector front, E&P’s declined 3.9% WoW with OGDC (-4.3%), PPL (-3%), MARI (-5.2%) & POL (-2.5%) wiping out 190pts from the index as international oil prices shed 7% over the week on concerns that a persisting supply glut may unravel the OPEC deal.
Reports coming out of Lahore High Court suggest that the case against anti-dumping on steel has been relisted for 17th March.
Foreigners were the net buyers of $15.4 million during the week as against selling of $32.7 million during the previous week.
Major buying was seen in Oil & Gas Exploration Sector ($8.6mn) whereas selling was seen in Banks & Power ($1.3mn).
During the week, Shell Pakistan (SHEL) furnished record earnings for year end 2016, the company reported after tax earnings of Rs6.8bn (EPS Rs63.22), up 643% from last years profit of just Rs941mn (EPS Rs8.51). Along with the result, the company declared a bumper final cash dividend of Rs28/sh, in addition to interim dividend of Rs6/sh paid earlier. SHEL’s 2016 payout of Rs34 is the highest cash dividend in 8 years (2008 DPS: Rs40).
Hascol Petrolem (HASCOL) notified the stock exchange regarding the signing of a 5yr “Aviation Operations & Technical Services Agreement” with Vitol Aviation, Netherlands, by virtue of which Vitol will provide core & technical support services to Hascol to provide jet fuels to the aviation industry in Pakistan at selected air fields.
Dawood Lawrencepur (DLL) posted 2016 consolidated EPS of Rs54.2 (from continuing operation), up 2.3x compared to Rs16.6 reported last year. Growth in earnings stemmed from 1.8x surge in share of associates profit. DLL declared final cash dividend of Rs5/sh. The company also furnished material info regarding extending Standby Letter of Credit for up to $10mn along with an unsecured loan of Rs300mn to its subsidiary Tenaga Generasi Limited, which is setting up a 50MW Wind Project.
Phillip Morris Pakistan (PMPK) furnished its 2016 financial result, reporting profit after tax of Rs510mn translating to an EPS of Rs8.8, a significant improvement from last years loss of Rs1.3bn (LPS Rs21.4).
All cases (50+) pertaining to imposed anti-dumping duties (steel, ceramic, paper) and their collection by various govt. agencies (NTC/FBR), have been clumped together & relisted once again to be heard on 17th March.
