RECORDER REPORT

The Karachi Stocks market on Monday started the new month with panic-selling with KSE index losing 1.24 percent. Braving a weeklong fall to close at 33,632.19 points Friday, the benchmark index tumbled by 419 points to end at 33,213.58. The post earnings announcement profit-taking caused panic selling on the market that crashed across the board, analyst Ahsan Mehanti told Business Recorder.

First trading session of the week saw the Pakistan State Oil losing 1.2 percent on the back of what analysts viewed announcing an earning per share (EPS) loss of Rs 3.53 for the second quarter of FY15. The state-run oil giant»s downward movement is largely attributed to the company»s increased inventory losses. The index was seen hitting the intraday high and low of 33,711.31 and 33,125.34 points, respectively.

Trading turnover at the ready-counter nose-dived to 160 million shares from 208 million of the earlier session. The futures market, where the volumes rose to 76 million contracts during last rollover week, returned to the corrective mode and closed at 24 million trades. The foreign investors, however, did not follow the trend as their $9.68 million buying exceeded the $5.58 million selling by a net inflow of $4.09 million. The stocks traded lost 22 percent value to Rs 10.34 billion from the previous Rs 13.19 billion. The number of scrips traded was encouraging though only 54 of the total 373 could settle in the green zone against 304 who lost. Fifteen stayed unchanged. The market capitalisation also contracted to Rs 7.519 trillion compared to Rs 7.615 trillion of last week.

Pak Elektron kept leading volumes with 11 million of its listed shares changing hands on the day. At Rs 59.25 per share, the stock shed 59 paisa. Other most traded scrips were Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 9.9 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company 9.1 million, Engro Corp 9.1 million, Engro Fertilizer 8.5 million, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim 8.1 million, K-Electric 5.5 million, PIA 5.0 million, Maple Leaf Cement 4.8 million and Bank of Punjab 4.7 million shares.

After a positive opening, the index failed to maintain the momentum and saw panic-selling by retail investors and institutions, commented JS analyst Fahad Ali. Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation attributed the day»s fall to weak earnings outlook in oil, banking and cement sector. Falling international oil and cement prices, lower banking spreads and below expected earning of Pakistan State Oil played a catalyst role in bearish activity at KSE despite rising off-take in fertilizer sector and expectations for lower CPI inflation for Feb»15, he added OGRA»s approval of a tripartite deal between Engro Fertilisers, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines and Mari Petroleum for the supply of gas at concessionary rate of $0.7 per mmbtu helped the former stay in the limelight.