Investor concern over changing US policies invited panic selling on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Monday and despite foreign buying, the benchmark KSE-100 index posted a heavy decline of 991.53 points to close at 48,972.24 points. Selling was seen mainly from local investors and institutions, however foreign investors emerged net buyers of shares worth $4.6 million.
Trading activity also remained low due to investors'' cautious stance and the daily trading volumes on the ready counter declined to 389.735 million shares as compared to 597.964 million shares traded in previous session. The market capitalisation decreased by Rs 178 billion to stand at Rs 9.768 trillion. Out of total 430 active scrips, 335 closed in negative, only 84 in positive while the value of 11 stocks remained unchanged.
K-Electric was the volume leader with 54.761 million shares. It lost Rs 0.42 to close at Rs 10.25 followed by Aisha Steel Mills that declined by Rs 0.87 to close at Rs 23.17 with 19.493 million shares. TRG Pak plunged by Rs 2.86 to close at Rs 54.47 with 17.061 million shares.
Unilever Foods and Thal Industries Corp were the top gainers with Rs 100.00 and Rs 20.53, respectively to close at Rs 6,000.00 and Rs 554.98. Wyeth Pak and Sanofi-Aventis were the top losers with Rs 224.45 and Rs 109.33, respectively to close at Rs 4,264.63 and Rs 2,490.67. An analyst at Topline Securities said the local bourse tumbled below the psychological level of 49,000 points after circulation of recent news reports where Trump Administration hinted that the recent travel ban, restricting refugees and migrants from seven Muslim-dominated nations, could extend to Pakistan in the near future. Panic among market participants was further compounded following reports that local investors started to shelve down their investments due to heavy leverage positions.
Nabeel Haroon at JS Global Capital said that the market opened on a positive note as index heavy weight OGDC gained to make an intraday high of 3.9 percent during the initial hours of trade on the back of the news that Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) has put a hold on five percent divestment of government''s holding in the company. Later on heavy selling was witnessed in the market by skeptical investors as the index lost 991 points during the day to close at 48,972 level (-2 percent). The major index movers were LUCK (-3.12 percent), HUBC (-2.86 percent) and UBL (-1.78 percent).
Zeeshan Afzal at Insight Securities said that the US officials giving hint to include Pakistan on ban of visa raised concerns among investors. Benchmark index lost more than 991 points directing most of the stocks to hit their lower circuit. Delay in OGDC divestment plan renewed the interest while FFBL announcement for the last quarter could not impress through their earnings.
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