CORRECTION CONTINUES AT KSE
THE stock market went into further correction as the KSE-100 index closed at 39,738.67 points after losing 70.91 points or 0.18 per cent, ending the month on a disappointing note.
“Despite the Morgan Stanley Classification Index (MSCI) upgrade in June and subsequent foreign inflows of $23 million in July, the month of August has been a damp squib from flows perspective ($20.40 million). So from expectations point of view, the outgoing month was a disappointment,” said Intermarket Securities Limited.
Sector wise, oil and gas retreated after overnight decline in crude oil prices with Oil & Gas Development Co (-0.11 per cent), Pakistan Oilfields Limited (-1.34 per cent) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (-0.32 per cent coming out as the top laggards in energy and power space while National Refinery Limited (-1.07 per cent), Attock Refinery Limited (-1.13 per cent) and Pakistan State Oil (-0.81 per cent) also remained under pressure.
Cements staged another retreat due to the upcoming capacity expansion announcements, including the latest by Kohat Cement Company Limited (-1.94 per cent) announcing an expansion of 2.3 million tonnes per annum along with their latest earnings announcement.
Automobile sector hit the upper circuit with Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) (+5 per cent), Ghandhara Industries Limited (+5 per cent) while Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (+1.90 per cent) and Indus Motor Company Limited (+0.39 per cent) also outperformed the broader market. Fertilizer, textile, pharmaceutical and power sectors staged a mixed performance on account of weak investor sentiment.
Top volume leaders for the session were K-Electric Limited (1.08 per cent) Byco Petroleum Limited (+5 per cent) Aisha Steel Mills Limited (+6.58 per cent); clocking in a turnover of 27.35 million, 26.19 million and 23.61 million shares respectively.
Market participation remained flattish at almost 102million shares compared to the other day’s turnover of 105 million shares. The value of shares traded on Thursday was Rs 7.555 billion compared to the other day’s value of Rs 11.4 billion, a reduction of 33.7 per cent.