STOCK MARKET UPDATE: 27.04.2012

Stock

Karachi Stocks Down 105.38 Points:
KARACHI, Apr 26: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 14112.36, down 105.38 points.

April 26, 2012

 5 TOP GAINERS  &  LOOSERS:

Unilever Food	Rs 106.63	Nestle Pakistan	Rs (212.78)
Pak Gum & Chem	Rs 6.13	UniLever Pak Ltd	Rs (35.61)
OGDC	Rs 4.57	Wyeth Pak Ltd	Rs (31.26)
Allawasaya Tex	Rs 4.53	Millat Tractors	Rs (11.79)
Shezan Inter	Rs 4.27	National Refinery	Rs (7.87)

Stocks suffer 151 points decline

KARACHI, April 26: The Karachi Stock market was gripped by uncertainty on Thursday after the pronouncement of the judicial verdict on Prime Minister case.
Private TV channel grabs forced nervous and excitable investors to resort to profit taking.
A cloud of uncertainty, however, had shrouded the aftereffects of the judgement and most investors were wondering: “what now?”
The market which had started on a note of business-as-usual despite the upcoming judgement later in the day, saw the KSE-100 index rise to around 100 points as favourite stocks on all sectors continued the climb.
But panic gripped mostly retail investors who decided to stay out until the dust settled. Thus, several second and third tier stocks quickly dived to their lower locks. The corporate results, some of which were disappointing, pulled the related stocks, such as a couple of cement giants, from their highs to lows for the day.
The institutional, foreign and high net-worth individuals retained their faith in the stocks, so that foreign investors made a net buy of $1.83 million worth equity; companies bought shares valued at $1.70 million and Mutual Funds also seized the opportunity to pick up stocks at dips. But due to lower retail participation, turnover was down to 271 million shares for the day, compared to 307million shares traded the previous day.
The joy on signing of Presidential Ordinance regarding the reformed capital gains tax was diluted as various quarters once again raised the noise of giving the ‘black money’ a conduit to be turned ‘white’ through the stock exchange.
Analyst Hasnain Asghar Ali at Invisor Securities said that regardless of the materialisation of long awaited infrastructural changes, investors in stocks remained indecisive due to a charged political atmosphere after the decision of judiciary.
It dissuaded investors from aggressive buying. The decision of taxation authority to reintroduce Capital Value Tax (CVT) on purchase of shares was thought to be at the cost of trade, that could disallow the local bourse to attain the expected volumetric increase, though the proposed infrastructural changes might allow substantial increase in turnover, going forward.
Most analysts, however, believed that the underlying tone in stocks was still positive based on more upcoming healthy financial results and possible incentives for listed corporates in the budget. Yet all of that could be clouded by any adverse development on the political front.
Traded value of stocks on Thursday, dropped by more than a billion rupees to Rs7.6 billion, from Rs8.7 billion the day before, in line with dip in number of traded shares. A total of 208 shares were on the decline, evidencing a wide gap against only 98 that attracted more values. UniLever Food was the biggest gainer of Rs106.63 to Rs2239.25, followed by Pak Gum & Chemical up by Rs6.13 to Rs128.92.
The declining stocks were led by Nestle Pakistan, down by Rs212.78 to Rs4091.26 and UniLever Pak lower by Rs35.61 to Rs 6215.30.
The volume leaders included Jahangir Siddiqui Co down to lower lock by Re1 to Rs18.92 on 38m shares; IGI Investment Bank conceding 31 paisa to Rs3.24 on 17m shares, the investors ignoring news over potential takeover by Bank Al-Falah. PTCL decreased by 66 paisa to Rs12.71 on 17m shares as the excitement over results proved short lived. Fauji Cement was down 24 paisa to Rs6.28 on 16m shares; Lafarage Pakistan shed 36 paisa to Rs4.94 on 13m shares. DG Khan Cement continued to give up from earlier huge gains and was down by Rs2.04 to Rs40.25 on 15m shares; Azgard Nine went down by 66 paisa to Rs7.86 on 9m shares; NBP backed down by 85 paisa to Rs48.80; Engro Foods rose by a substantial Rs2.35 to Rs53.28 on 8m shares and FFBL added Rs1.89 to Rs40.14 on 8m shares.

ANNOUCEMENTS/COMPANY NEWS:

1.Lucky Cement profit rises : KARACHI, April 26: Lucky Cement declared nine months (July-March) net profit at Rs4.68, translating into earning per share (eps) of Rs14.49.
Analysts said that the results were in line with expectations as they showed massive growth of 89 per cent over profit at Rs2.5bn (EPS Rs7.65) reported in the corresponding period of last year. The board did not declare a dividend.
The reason for strong earnings growth was thought to be due to improved per ton profitability on higher prices.
Sales rose 29 per cent to Rs23.95bn from Rs18.53bn in the same time last year. At the operating level, profits rose 88 per cent to Rs6.22bn, compared to Rs3.31bn recorded in the same time last year. Financial costs declined by 29 per cent that helped bottom-line.
Lucky was said to have decided to invest approx $15m in setting up 870,000 tons per annum Greenfield Cement grinding plant in Republic of Iraq as a joint venture project.
Moreover, the company further plans to invest $4m in its associated company which was establishing a Wind farm project — M/s Energy Limited for the generation of 50MW electricity at a cost of $143m.
MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI