Weekly Review

The market closed down 900pts for the week down 2.7pc. Avg volumes fell almost 20pc to 143mln shares while value traded was stable at Rs.6.6bln. Taking last weeks 288 pt decline into account the market has lost 1200pts in the last fortnight. Fridays net foreign outflow of USD 6.3 mln took this week's tally to USD13.1 mln. Last week's outflow was USD15.9mln. Out of this week's most actively traded stocks only two, Mari, SSGC and Ferozsons closed up. All the other stocks ended in the red.

Monetary policy status quo last Saturday sent the market into a slide, with no other positive trigger in sight. There wasn't much positive news during the rest of the week also.

In corporate news EPCL announced it might be taken over. Mobilink announced its merger with Warid Telecom. Fatima fertiliser stock came under pressure this week on news of a sales tax issue. A clarification from the company didn't do much to help arrest the stocks slide.

Continued foreign outflow doesn't bode well for the market. Fridays volume of 120mln shares was well below the average volume for the last two weeks. The market could find support at 22500. Declines on low volumes can reverse quickly.