Zubair Yaqoob
Karachi
KSE-100 sheds 383 points
Market opened on a positive note with +12pts and 0.4M shares.
The benchmark index went up to 80pts earlier in the session, which was followed by growing selling pressure. The only stock that mattered on Thursday was clearly LOTCHEM, which realized trading volume of 59.6M shares (approx. 16% of its free float and 43% of the total trading volume of today). No other stock managed to cross even 6M share traded volume. LOTCHEM announced 9M financial results, which was largely in line with street estimates, however, cherry on top was 15% dividend that matched last year’s declaration. On the whole, index lost 386pts (unadjusted) with a total volume of 138M shares, most of which was contributed by Chemical sector and followed by Technology (8.1M) and Power (7.9M). Among scrips, KEL (5.2M) and TRG (4.2M) followed LOTCHEM. The Index closed at 33,899pts as against 34,281pts showing a decline of 383pts (-1.1% DoD). Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-147pts), E&P (-87pts), Cement (-36pts), Pharma (-33pts) and O&GMCs (-23pts). Volumes declined from 151.4mn shares to 137.9mn shares (-9% DoD). Average traded value also declined by 23% to reach US$ 24.1mn as against US$ 31.4mn.
