LAHORE: Bearish sentiments continued to dominate the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday again. The indices were seen slipping lower and lower all session long. In the year of elections, investors did not even look to be excited about the financial results season.
As per media reports, The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) today has requested the Ministry of Interior to place names of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (Retd) Safdar on the Exit Control List (ECL) as the Sharif family is facing three NAB references. Further, investors weigh economic indicators as increasing pressure on foreign exchange reserves clouds Pakistan’s external position.
International media quoted the first ever foreign head of the exchange as having taken up the task to protect investors. The report stated the new CEO is aiming to launch a new trading platform and new financial instruments including stock options, futures and ETF’s. Another media report mentioned the bourse to be working on the introduction of market makers to increase liquidity and training activity.
Meanwhile, the KSE 100 index dropped shedding 330.86 points to settle at 43,359.50. The KMI 30 index depreciated another 1.47 per cent with weak cement and oil sector. The KSE All Share Index declined 259.05 points with only 85 scripts ending in the green and 260 declined.
The market volumes remained just in line with the previous session. Total volume was recorded as 206.89 million. The top slots on the volume chart were taken by the food and personal care sector. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY -4.77 per cent), volume 11.46 million, and Fauji Foods Limited (FFL -4.98 per cent), volume 11.41 million were top traded.
Meezan Bank Limited (MEBL -3.39 per cent) declared financials for the year ended December 31, 2017. The bank extended its markup earned by 17 per cent to Rs 36.09 billion. Profit after taxation of the bank was jumped up 14 per cent to Rs 6.31 billion which converted into per share earnings of Rs 6.13. The board also approved a final cash dividend of Rs 3.00.
Bank AL Habib Limited (BAHL -1.25 per cent) posted 5 per cent higher markup earned which resulted in 7 per cent increase in net profit. Earnings per share stood at Rs 7.78.
Sector-wise data indicates that cement eroded 112 points from the index, followed by oil and gas marketing and fertilizer sectors that cumulatively took away 101 index points.
Stocks including LUCK (-2.4 per cent), DGKC (-4.2 per cent), SEARL (-3.9 per cent), SNGP (-2.9 per cent) and PSO (-2 per cent) withheld 129 points from the index whereas stocks including HBL (+3.4 per cent), UBL (+1.8 per cent), MCB (+0.2 per cent), JLICL (+3.4 per cent) & ABL (+0.9 per cent) added 146 points to the index gain.
Technically speaking, trading sideways for 15 consecutive sessions the KSE 100 index closed sharply lower after failing to move past resistance at 10EMA (43,787) for the 3rd session in a row. For now, immediate resistance is 10EMA while 43,035 (200EMA) is expected to be the next possible support.
