Karachi stock market uneasy; oils weigh

Karachi stocks on Monday faltered in the post-result season amid dull trade with a fall in foreign oil prices prompting investors to offload positions in energy equities, dealers said.
The benchmark KSE 100-share Index dropped 35.49 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 34,226.12 points. The index moved between the intraday high of 34,496.70 points and intraday low of 34,198 points.
KSE 30-sahre Index inched up 15.25 points, or 0.07 percent, to end at 20,432.64 points.
Volumes slid 38 percent to 122.52 million shares as compared to 196.23 million shares in the previous session. Trading value fell 40 percent to Rs5.72 billion. Market capitalisation shrank Rs26 billion to Rs7.25 trillion.
“Energy stocks were subject to selling amid downward trend in global crude oil prices,” said analyst Ovais Ahsan at JS Global Capital.
“Investors sold fertiliser stocks since their financial earnings were below the market expectations.”
Out of a total of 374 active stocks, 222 closed with a decrease in their prices, 129 closed with increase and 23 closed with no change.
Stocks, which invited notable selling, included Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Dawood Hercules and Engro Fertilizer.
OGDC dipped Rs1.77 to Rs136.18/share with 467,200 shares turnover. Dawood Hercules lost Rs2.23 to Rs128.01/share with 158,600 shares. Engro Fertilizer was down Rs1.50 to Rs90.01/share with 862,000 shares.
Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Limited said majority stocks closed with a loss in their share values as investors opted to reshuffle their portfolios in the post-result announcement season.
“The market has taken direction towards consolidation,” Mehanti said.
Ahsan said the market was short of triggers and therefore, “It failed to get an active response from investors during the session, which opened on a positive note in the morning.” “It was a volatile session in which volumes remained low. Such developments encouraged investors to book profits.” he added.
He said investors may set their focus on the next monetary policy announcement expected in the middle of the ongoing month of November. “Low inflation number (1.61 percent) for October may give the State Bank of Pakistan a space to further cut the interest rate,” he added.
However, investors still found a few stocks attractive and bought them at high prices. The notable stocks were Hub Power Company, Fauji Fertilizer Company and Fatima Fertilizer Company.
An analyst said investors took fresh position in Fatima Fertilizer despite that it reported earnings below the market expectation, while they bought Fauji Fertilizer ahead of its board of directors’ meeting on Wednesday to report financial result.
TRG Pakistan Ltd was volume leader with 18.59 million shares, as it closed at Rs37.65 with an increase of 52 paisas/share. This was followed by Pace (Pak) Limited with 10.84 million shares, which ended at Rs7.91 with a loss of 26 paisas/share. K-Electric Ltd recorded trade in 10.67 million shares, as it closed at Rs7.66 with a gain of nine paisas/share.