LAHORE: Taking its inspiration from the previous session, the 100 Index on Thursday, continued its southbound journey, falling 90.86 points to 45387.77, as panic selling over took profit taking in Banks, Cements and Fertilisers.
Market bears gradually pushed the 100 Index down through most part of the trading session. At its lowest point it was down 355.88 points (-0.79 per cent) however a late session recovery helped pare intraday losses, thanks to sharp recovery in Financials and Materials. Volume and Turnover for the 100 Index shot up 30.5 per cent and 8.7 per cent on d/d basis. Investor appetite for Industrials shot up on Thursday (12.5 per cent of total turnover – up 210.3 per cent on d/d basis), thanks to MTL (government considering abolishing sales tax on locally manufactured tractors), PAEL (robust sales of white appliances as seasonal demand picks up) and TRG (retail favourite). Financials (16.6 per cent of total turnover – up 56.2 per cent on d/d basis) came into limelight after UBL reported 1QCY18 consolidated NPAT of Rs2.79 billion (EPS: Rs2.28) in the previous session, down 63 per cent Year on Year (YoY) due to higher loan provisioning and one time booking of pension cost. Energy (18.3 per cent of total turnover – up 15.8 per cent on d/d basis) garnered investor interest on the back of rising crude oil prices (intraday high WTI at Rs69.27).
Despite a late session recovery, major drag to the 100 Index came from Materials (-1.13 per cent), Industrials (-0.88 per cent) and Health Care (-0.82 per cent), thanks to panic selling/ profit taking in LUCK (-1.68 per cent), FCCL (-4.77 per cent), DGKC (-2.01 per cent), MLCF (-3.31 per cent), FFBL (-3.95 per cent), TRG (-3.64 per cent) and SEARL (-1.30 per cent). Positive contribution from BAFL (+1.78 per cent), BAHL (+0.56 per cent), BOP (+2.41 per cent) and HBL (+0.13 per cent) helped Financials (-0.07 per cent) recover off intraday lows yet profit taking in UBL (-0.63 per cent), NBP (-1.97 per cent) and HMB (-2.15 per cent) kept the sector in red. Energy (+0.73 per cent) closed in green along with Consumer Staples owing to positive contribution from POL (+1.78 per cent), PPL (+1 per cent), OGDC (+0.59 per cent) and PAKT (+4.87 per cent).
In market related news, Moody’s has stated that introduction of seven standards for shariah-compliant transactions will help address industry’s persistent liquidity management challenges. Moreover, Pakistani rupee remained under pressure in the open market amid rising demand and while the interbank exchange rate remained stable, open market rate witnessed a sharp increase to Rs117 per dollar.
Market participation for the 100 Index increased to 111.17 million shares (+30.4 per cent on d/d basis). Major contribution to total market volume came from EPCL (-1.11 per cent), BOP (+2.41 per cent) and FCCL (-4.77 per cent) churning 42.14 million shares out of the All Share volume of 183.36 million shares. Daily traded value for the 100 Index increased to $56.25 million from $51.48 million in the previous session (+9.27 per cent on d/d basis); EPCL ($5.11 million), DGKC ($4.74 million) and OGDC ($4.39 million) were among top contributors from traded value perspective. Major contribution to the 100 Index downside came from LUCK (-1.68 per cent), FCCL (-4.77 per cent), DGKC (-2.01 per cent), MLCF (-3.31 per cent) and UBL (-0.63 per cent) taking away 91 points. On the flip side, POL (+1.78 per cent), PAKT (+4.87 per cent) and PPL (+1 per cent) added 72 points. The 100 index is 20 per cent above its 52-week low of 37,736.73 reached on December 12, 2017 and 15 per cent below its 52-week high of 53,127.24 touched on May 25, 2017.
