STOCK:
Karachi Stocks Down 5.05 Points:
KARACHI, Aug 06: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 14671.38, down 5.05 points.
August 6, 2012
5 TOP GAINERS & LOOSERS:
|
Rafhan MaizeXD
|
Rs
76.00
|
UniLever Pak
|
Rs
(44.80)
|
|
Atlas Battery Ltd
|
Rs
10.40
|
Siemens Pakistan
|
Rs
(15.00)
|
|
Exide Pak
|
Rs
10.23
|
Mithchells Frui
|
Rs
(14.80)
|
|
Island Textile
|
Rs
10.18
|
Wyeth Pak Limit
|
Rs
(13.00)
|
|
Colgate Palmolive
|
Rs
8.51
|
ZIL Limited
|
Rs
(4.76)
|
KARACHI, Aug 6: Shares closed flat on the Karachi stock market on Monday with the KSE-100 index marginally down by 2.66 points to 14,673.77.
Most market participants said it was a consolidation phase as expected near the 14,700 points level. Initially, however, the shares soared by 116 points on the back of oil and gas sector that saw a couple of heavyweights lift themselves to touch their ‘upper lock’.
Prominent among them was the share in OGDC, which carries the highest weightage in the KSE list of 100 shares. OGDC shot up by incredible Rs8.60 that accounted for almost the entire early day rise of 116 points. It was assisted by Pakistan Petroleum which also gained Rs3.
All that was good for investor sentiments, but the euphoria based on a couple of stocks was not sustainable and the market fell as quickly as it had risen. The fertiliser and cement stocks were the spoilers; the first on profit-taking and the second on issues related to gas shortage and fears of oversupply of urea.
The retail investors, who jumped on the bandwagon to make intra-day gains, quickly withdrew as the index started to take a dip into the red in line with the fall in price of OGDC.
The SBP Monetary Policy Statement to be unveiled on Aug 10 and the avalanche of financial results and dividends by big ticket companies were thought to be triggers for the market going forward.
Foreign investors were net buyers of Pakistan equity worth $1.72 million on Monday. Individuals, among local participants also made net buy of $1.17 million worth shares.Equity dealer at Topline Securities, Samar Iqbal said that the possibility of increase in Qadirpur gas price helped E&P stocks but selling in cement and fertiliser stocks poured cold water over the enthusiasm.
The dealer noted that small cap stocks like Aisha Steel, JSCL and ANL were amongst the volume leaders on Monday.
Hasnain Asghar Ali, COO at Escorts Capital, said that expectations of healthy earnings and payout kept the E&P giants in the limelight. The volume leaders from previous sessions stayed under the spell of technical adjustment.
However, volume generation on dips not only restricted the downside but the punters also entered for short term trade.
Widening deficit and heavy circular debt kept investors on a cautious footing. The SBP’s monetary policy was also a factor to reckon with. According to Hasnain, variables suggested status quo.
However, much of the market was expecting a rate cut of between 50 to 100bps given the single digit inflation unseen since Dec last year.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp commented that the activity remained thin despite strong corporate earnings outlook and recovery in global stocks and commodities.
The rising circular debt in the energy sector, revenue loss to fertiliser sector on gas supply worries and pending CGT collection issues encouraged bears to move forward.
Activity was seen to have improved as the volume of shares traded on Monday increased to 58 million shares, from 48 million shares last Friday and the trading value increased to Rs2.1 billion, from Rs1.8 billion. Market capitalisation saw addition of Rs2billion to Rs3.749 trillion, from Rs3.747 trillion.
Among the volume leaders, Aisha Steel rose by Rs1.02 to Rs11.02 on 5m shares. It was followed by Jah Sidd Co down 42 paisa to Rs14.71 on 3m shares. Azgard Nine shed 30 paisa to Rs5.82 on 3m shares, Fauji Fertiliser dipped by Rs2.19 to Rs113.83 on 3m shares and Quice Food gained Re1 to Rs11.24 on 2m shares.
D.G. Khan Cement conceded another 45 paisa to Rs46.18 on 2m shares, NBP was down by 92 paisa to Rs44.36 on 2m shares, KESC slid 17 paisa to Rs3.58 on 2m shares, Engro Corporation slipped 13 paisa to Rs88.71 on 2m shares and Maple Leaf Cement added 5 paisa to Rs6.67 on 2m shares.
Company News:
1) Cement sales decline by 1.64pc: KARACHI, Aug 6: Cement sales in the first month of the new fiscal year saw a decrease of 1.64 per cent compared with the despatches in the same month last year (year on year), a spokesman for the All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association said on Monday.
He however, did not give comparative figures with June 2012 (month-on-month) basis.
The local cement despatches were said to have increased nominally by 1.47 per cent in July 2012 to 2,054,213 tons compared with 2,024,407 tons in July 2011.
However, exports suffered a sharp drop. The overall exports declined by 9.23 per cent year-on-year. In July last year, the total cement exports were 831,785 tons that receded to 755,010 tons in July this year.
Exports to Afghanistan were down by 10.37 per cent to 455,897 tons, while exports to other destinations through sea slipped by 6.16 per cent to 244,880 tons in July 2012.
The APCMA spokesman pointed out that the electricity crisis and rains badly affected the domestic market in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkwa.
Dispatches from the North based mills increased by 0.71 per cent while the despatches of the South based mills registered an increase of 4.22 per cent.
The sluggish construction activities in Northern region are a source of concern for the cement industry because bulk of the capacity is located in the North”, APCMA stated.
Exports by the mills in the Southern zone stood down by 17.84 per cent in July 2012 compared with the corresponding month last year.
Cement exports by mills located in Northern zone declined by 7.02 per cent “mainly because of high freight cost for export by sea”, APCMA stated.
