KARACHI
Bearish activity witnessed at KSE in a volatile session on investors’ fears on regulatory supervision and impact of settlement bank issues amid Shuhada protests in the city.
The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 82.25 points to close at 33,718.86 points level on Wednesday.
Expected fall in power tariff, uncertainty in global commodities, rising coal prices and consolidation post earning announcements played a catalyst role in bearish activity at the bourse despite strong results in banking and cement sectors and SBP revision on inflation target up to 5.5pc likely to further ease monetary policy stance next month, market watcher stated.
Profit-taking was seen at local bourse with declining volumes. Engro rallied after better than expected December earnings announcement (EPS13.59, Div 40pc), said analyst Samar Iqbal.
Market remained volatile throughout the day with lackluster volumes. Cement sector remained under pressure due to the escalation in international coal prices hurting gross margins. Mix sentiment was recorded in oil & gas sector to a slight dip in international oil prices. Kapco spiked up 2.2pc after the announcement of quarterly financial result of EPS Rs2.75 and dividend of Rs4/share.
In the last trading hour, Engro started its northward journey due to the announcement of its year- end 2014 result of EPS Rs13.59 and dividend of Rs4/share beating analyst expectations of EPS Rs12.5 and dividend of Rs2/share, observed analyst Arhum Ghous. Volumes decreased by 24pc to 164m shares, value also declined by 37pc to $76.8m (value Rs7.7b). Out of total active companies in trading session 111 settled in advance, 234 in decline while 20 went unchanged.
Highest increase was recorded in the shares of Bata Pak which rose by Rs180.00 to Rs3780.00 per share, followed by Nestle Pak that increased by Rs50.00 to Rs10550.00 per share.
Top decline witnessed in the share of Exide (PAK) that fell by Rs73.00 to Rs1394 per share, followed by Siemens Pak. XD which declined by Rs46.51 to Rs1036.49 per share.