STOCK MARKET UPDATE: 08.03.2013

STOCKS

Karachi Stocks Down 16.36 Points:
KARACHI, Mar 07: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 17984.09, down 16.36 points.

(Today Market is 23.94 Down@ 11.05 am)

March 07, 2013

 5 TOP GAINERS  &  LOOSERS:

UniLever Pak	Rs 528.75	Bata Pak	Rs (57.33)
Uniliver Food	Rs 90.00	Indus Motor Co.	Rs (11.87)
Colgae almolive	Rs 80.00	Khyber Tobacco	Rs (6.40)
Indus Dying SD	Rs 20.58	National Refinery	Rs (5.84)
Exide (Pak)	Rs 15.65	Attock Petroleum	Rs (4.03)

Stocks fall below 18,000-level

KARACHI, March 7: Stocks ended marginally lower on Thursday as foreigners sold heavyweights such as Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd and MCB Bank but bargain hunters accumulated shares at lower levels, which helped curtail the losses, dealers said.
The KSE 100-share index ended 0.04 per cent, or 7.54 points, lower to close at 17,992.91 points. It traded in a broad range as it made an intra-day high at 18,120.75 points and low at 17,958.37 points.
“OGDCL and MCB Bank dragged market in negative. The KSE 100 closed below 18,000 points mark after 6 trading session,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.
OGDCL ended Rs2.34 lower at Rs230.22 and MCB Bank decreased by Rs2.37 to close at Rs216.27.
Turnover also fell to 184.61 million shares as investors stood on the sidelines amid increasing fears about the country’s security situation, compared with 341.37m shares traded on Wednesday.
Trading value also decreased by almost Rs4 billion to Rs5.64bn from Rs9.33bn in the previous trading session and market capitalisation fell to Rs4.46 trillion from Wednesday’s Rs4.47tr.
“Another day of shifting moods as slight increase in buying interest drew in sellers resulting in index closing 7 points below from yesterdays’ close of 17,992 points after making a high of 18,120 points during the earlier part of the session. With result pipeline drying up and election campaigns shifting gear, the investors needed strong fundamental reason to stay long,” Arif Habib Equity Sales said in a note.
Foreign investors turned into net sellers as they sold shares worth a net $1.23 million on Thursday, compared with buying a net $1.85m on Wednesday, bringing the total net buying for the month in single digit at $9.39m.
In February, foreign investors had a net buying of $28.9m. Mutual funds were the biggest sellers with equity worth $1.89m but individuals were the largest buyers with equity worth $2.81m.
The biggest gainers were led by UniLever Pakistan which ended Rs528.75 higher to close at Rs10,103.75, followed by Unilever Food, which closed Rs90 higher at Rs4,345.
Bata Pak Ltd witnessed the biggest loss as it shed Rs57.33 to Rs1,392.67, followed by Indus Motor Co, which ended Rs11.87 lower at Rs327.84.
The KSE-30 index ended 0.42 pc, or 62.32 points, lower at 14,602.15.
Out of the 357 companies traded, the value of 192 increased, 143 decreased while 22 remained unchanged. Even though the share price of majority of the companies traded on Thursday increased, it was selling in blue chips companies that dragged the market lower.
The second and third tier shares along with the cement sector, once again dominated the 10 most active traded stocks: Lafarge cement was the volume leader as it rose 27 paisa to Rs6.16 on turnover of almost 22m shares, Fauji Cement Ltd gained 10 paisa to Rs8.33 on 13.15m shares and Jahangir Siddiqui Co Ltd fell 46 paisa to Rs15.16 on 10.28m shares.
Lotte PakPTA shed 5 paisa to Rs7.77 on 9.27m shares, Engro Corp ended Rs2.14 higher at Rs122.17 on 8.64m shares and Nishat Mills Ltd increased by Rs2.65 to Rs79.29 on 7.9m shares.
Pakistan Telecommunication Co ltd fell by 31 paisa to Rs21.80 on 7.45m shares, Maple Leaf Cement shed 22 paisa to Rs17.64 on 7.32m shares and Askari Bank rose marginally by one paisa to Rs19.27 on 5.22m shares.
Soneri Bank Ltd gained 54 paisa to close at Rs6.77 on volume of 4.96m shares.

OGDC, MCB keep Pakistan stocks on a tight leash

KARACHI: The oil giant, Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC) and Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) Thursday brought Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) down to a flat close, Geo News reported.
The benchmark 100-Index closed 0.04 percent, or 7.54 points, lower at 17,992.91 points.
The OGDCL lost 1.46 percent to Rs202.55, while MCB fell by 1.32 percent to Rs215.75.
Earlier in the day, the apex bourse saw a rally, which the pundits attributed to Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) withdrawal of an indefinite strike, which could have proved to be a definite trouble for the business activities in the financial hub of Pakistan.
However, the correction in the index heavyweights pared early gains leading to a bland close.

MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI