KARACHI: Pakistan equities closed another day in red in lacklustre trading as domestic politics crawled back up on radar. KSE 100 index slipped 486 points on Tuesday as the market shed 1,105 points during last 3 bearish sessions.
Activity in wider market dried up with KSE All Index recording a tally of just over 200 million shares exchanging hands, down 15% from previous day and 41% from last week’s average. Market opened and traded sideways until afternoon followed by a steady dip afterwards as domestic politics weighed in and dragged index below 46,000 levels.
Locals reportedly remained sidelined and traded cautiously as cleric Tahir Qadri came from Canada and addressed a public gathering at Nasir Bagh, Lahore. He lashed out at former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and current Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif over Model Town tragedy and asked his supporters to be ready to assemble to take their ‘Qisas march’ forward.
Another important development taking place on Wednesday is the planned rally of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from Islamabad to Lahore via GT Road.
Earlier, the return of Nawaz Sharif was planned for Sunday via motorway but it was put off till Wednesday, apparently the party intends to show its political prowess via GT Road. The PML-N rally is likely to reach Lahore in two days, on Thursday. The market participants will remain vigilant as the developments taking place will shape the future direction of the market.
On Tuesday Pakistan State Oil PSO contributed most positive points to KSE 100 Index as it hit upper price limit at Open after announcing a surprise earnings and payout. The company announced surprised stock dividend of 20%.
Stocks including KEL (-5.3%), ISL (-4.6%), LUCK (-1.3%), DGKC (-2.5%) and PAEL (-5%) contributed 116.8 points to index decline whereas PSO (+5%), POL (+1.7%) and PGF (+5%) added 74 points to the index gain.
Traded volumes were down 15% to 206 million shares whereas traded value was down 13% to Rs8.8bn/ $84 million.
Shares of 384 companies were traded of which 75 stocks closed higher and 295 declined while 14 remained unchanged.
Equity analyst expect lacklustre activity to continue this week with domestic politics a major dampener and keeping gains in check while foreign flows will remain key in setting the direction in days ahead despite earnings season.