Index sheds 369.25 points

The KSE-100 index on Tuesday registered a heavy decline of 369.25 points to close near its intra-day lowest level at 11,034.92 due to massive selling pressure from both local and foreign channels on concerns over the US downgrade and fears of global recession, analysts said. They said that fall in other regional markets and global commodities also affected investors' sentiment at the local bourse despite record earning announcement by PSO.
"Fear that foreigners can also sell in Pakistani market due to continuous decline in regional markets forced the local investors to dump their shares", Muhammad Sohail, a leading analyst, said. The foreign investors withdrew massive $7.56 million from the Pakistan equity market--a huge single-day outflow of foreign portfolio investment--and the market came close down to 11,000 points mark after a gap of almost 9 months, he added.
The market witnessed heavy selling pressure from its opening and the index remained in deep red throughout the trading session. Trading turnover also remained very low due to absence of buyers and the volume at ready counter declined to 69.143 million shares as compared to 106.740 million shares traded on Monday.
Market capitalisation declined by Rs 93 billion to Rs 2.922 trillion. Of 327 active scrips, 195 closed in negative and 54 in positive, while the values of 78 stocks remained unchanged. Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 5.980 million shares. However, it lost Re 0.72 to close at Rs 10.01. PTCL closed at Rs 10.56, down Re 0.01 with 5.065 million shares.
Bank Al Falah and NBP declined by Re 0.12 and Rs 2.31 to close at Rs 10.06 and Rs 44.00 with 3.990 million shares and 3.983 million shares respectively. POL plunged by Rs 16.98 to close at Rs 329.80 with 2.859 million shares. Fauji Fertiliser Co (FFC), Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim and Engro Corp declined by Rs 4.98, Re 0.81 and Rs 6.50 to close at Rs 151.87, Rs 45.27 and Rs 123.59 with 2.807 million shares, 2.739 million shares and 2.609 million shares respectively.
Arif Habib Corp lost Rs 1.19 to close at Rs 22.79 with 2.558 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co closed at Rs 5.39, down Re 0.35 with 2.482 million shares. Unilever Pak and Nadeem Textile were highest gainers, increasing by Rs 62.07 and Rs 2.82 to close at Rs 6004.42 and Rs 59.27 respectively, while Nestle Pakistan and Siemens Pak were worst losers declining by Rs 80.84 and Rs 36.09 to close at Rs 3916.30 and Rs 874.91 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that the stocks fell sharply in a volatile session at KSE on low-risk appetite after stocks plunged around the world on US rating downgrade by S&P and fears of global economic recession. He said that the fall in global commodities, WTI crude oil fall near $78 and fear for possible foreign outflow affected the sentiment despite record earning announcement by oil giant PSO.