Weekly Update: PSX closes in negative territory
Last updated on: 16 March,2019 05:28 pm
Pakistan equities continued their downward trend, shedding 643 points.
KARACHI (Web Desk) - The capital market closed in a negative territory and closed at 48 trading session low market with equities price sliding for sixth consecutive week on government projection, lowering the economic forecast for the current fiscal year.
Pakistan equities continued their downward trend shedding 643 points to finish at 38,307 points level. This is the lowest index level in 48 trading sessions. Out of the five trading session during the week, KSE-100 index managed to end in green in only one session.
Sector-wise negative contributions came from Commercial Banks slipping by 149 points, Cement by 120 points, Oil and Gas Exploration Companies by 109 points and Oil and Gas Marketing Companies 76 points. Whereas, sectors that contributed positively include Tobacco up by 48 points and Textile Composite 7 points.
Foreign selling continued this week clocking-in at 15.6 million dollars compared to a net selling of 3.5 million dollars last week. Selling was witnessed in Exploration & Production amounting to 13.4 million dollars and Cement 1.5 million dollars. On the domestic front, major buying was reported by Insurance 8.3 million dollars and Companies 3.6 million dollars. Volumes during the week settled at 93 million shares, down by 18 percent whereas value traded arrived at 27 million dollars down by 21 percent on week on week basis.
In the first four trading sessions of the week, foreigners were net sellers of 17.7 million dollars vs. net selling of 3.5 million dollars in the first four days of previous week. On the local investors’ side, Insurance Companies and Banks were net buyers of 7.8 million dollars and 4 million dollars, respectively.
An analyst from Habib MetroFinancial Services said the equity market is expected to remain inconsistent and depressed for the near term amidst concerns on the macro-economic front, investors are therefore recommended to maintain standby liquidity and cherry pick fundamentally strong scrips.
An analyst from Arif Habib Limited said that the Key near term events include visit of the Malaysian Premier on Pakistan Day (23rd Mar’19) as well as the State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy this month. On the stock market front, we expect the bourse to remain range bound next week due to delay in the IMF agreement and suggest market participants to invest in blue chip scrips on dips.
Details by Haris Zamir