LAHORE: Negative news regarding mounting Current Account Deficit and downgrade in credit outlook by Moody’s kept market under pressure during the week as index lost 5 per cent, closing at 41,637. This coupled with continued foreign selling had a major toll on the market.
Index heavyweight sectors including Commercial Banks and Oil & Gas Exploration remained under pressure during the week as the sectors deducted 666 and 356 points, respectively from the index. Cement, Oil & Gas Marketing and Autos also remained under pressure as investors remained concerned on negative implication of currency devaluation on said sectors.
Market participation during the week showed improvement, where volumes and value were both up by 29 per cent, and 15 per cent, respectively.
Foreigners remained net seller of $24.5 million against net selling of $4.4 million last week. On the other hand, amongst local investors, Insurance were net buyers of $15.2 million whereas mutual funds were sellers of $6.0 million.
Federal Board of Revenue Member Dr Muhammad Iqbal in a press conference stated that foreign and domestic assets could be disclosed till Jun 30th and no extension will be given in Tax Amnesty Scheme. According to Dr Muhammad Iqbal, the government has received a good response as around $3-4 billion could be repatriated.
Board of directors of Macter International (MACTER) has decided to seek shareholders’ approval for authorizing investment up to Rs300 million by way of purchase of shares in Misbah Cosmetics (Pvt), a private limited associated company in three years on the basis of requirements and issuance of corporate guarantee up to Rs100 million at a time.
