LAHORE: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed another uncertain session on Tuesday, recovering losses midday. In midst of political turmoil, investors remained cautious, while foreign investors were net sellers yet again with a net outflow of $0.10 million. Local mutual funds sold a net of $6.40 million while local individuals and insurance companies saved the day.
Benchmark KSE 100 index traded in 500 points range. Late buying by value buyers led the market to close at 42,994 index level, up 84 points after touching an intraday low of 42,607.
The KMI 30 index deflated 1.42 per cent early in the session before it bounced back to day’s high of 0.59 per cent. It settled the day lower by 1.04 per cent at 71,994.40. The KSE All Share Index lost 129.89 points.
The market managed to close positive as investors sentiment buoyed on a selection of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as PML-N’s interim party president. This was decided in Tuesday’s Central Working Committee (CWC) which was called following a Supreme Court ruling ordering the removal of Nawaz Sharif as party chief.
Bullish activity was seen in cement sector which contributed +34 points to index here on Tuesday, owing to dip in international coal prices to $94/tonne as well as investors’ bet on robust sales in the outgoing month. The market saw low trading activity with volumes going down by 14 per cent and value declining by 5 per cent due to the absence of a major trigger.
UBL (-1.9 per cent), DAWH (-1.9 per cent), MUREB (-5 per cent), NATF (-5 per cent) and NBP (-1.5 per cent) withheld 79 points from the index whereas MCB (+1.8 per cent), HBL (+1 per cent), PAKT (+4.8 per cent), PPL (+1.2 per cent) & DGKC (+3.5 per cent), added 136 points to the index.
The market volumes touched 167.57 million with Pakistan Elektron Limited (PAEL -1.74 per cent) at the top. The script saw 14.83 million shares exchanged. The script which was floored for two sessions ended lower by 2.05 per cent taking its one-year capital loss to 42.40 per cent.
TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG -1.07 per cent) followed with a volume of 9.24 million along with Agritech Limited (AGL +14.60 per cent), volume 8.84 million.
GlaxoSmithKline (Pakistan) Limited (GLAXO -0.06 per cent) announced financials for the year ended December 31, 2017. Sales for the year extended by 19 per cent to Rs 32.77 billion and net profit jumped 8 per cent. Earnings per share clocked at Rs 9.36 along with a final cash dividend Rs 4.00 per share.
Nishat Chunian Power (NCPL) announced its 2QFY18 result where the company reported flat revenues of Rs3.8 billion. While gross margins improved from 27 per cent to 31.6 per cent during the outgoing quarter on the back of improved thermal efficiency, said a report by Topline Securities. Resultantly earnings were up 15 per cent YoY to Rs849 million with earnings per share (EPS) of Rs2.3.
Meanwhile, Nishat Chunian (NCL) disclosed 2QFY18 financial results here on Tuesday announcing earnings of Rs794 million with an EPS Rs3.3 per share, up 163 per cent YoY. Revenue grew by 10 per cent YoY while gross margins improved by 3ppts to 17 per cent in 2QFY18. Growth in earnings was further supported by a lower effective tax rate of 7.4 per cent against 17.7 per cent.
Technically speaking, the KSE 100 formed a hammer on close with a long lower shadow and a strong following day on solid volume is still needed to confirm the reversal. Sandwiched between 50EMA (42,861) below and 200EMA (43,052) on top, IMS Securities reports said that it is expected any further upside to meet stiff resistance at 43,388 (20EMA).
