Stocks sag in volatile trade

The Karachi share market remained volatile on the last trading day of the week Friday mainly due to panic selling by local and foreign investors. The benchmark KSE-100 index lost 700 points to close at 34,519 points compared to 35,219 points Thursday. Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Securities, said panic selling was witnessed at Karachi Stock Exchange on global commodities slump.
"A major fall in global stocks after crude oil plunge below $41 per barrel also played havoc with the equities," he added. He said China''s financial turmoil played a catalytic role in bearish activity ignoring upbeat Current Account data for July 2015 and record earnings announcements in banking sector. The share market, during the intraday trading, fluctuated in green and red zones and the index also touched 35,279 points highest and 34,272 points lowest levels with higher trading activity. Despite a negative sentiment, volume at the ready counter increased by 12 percent compared to previous session and overall some 314 million shares were traded Friday against 281 million Thursday.
Market capitalisation registered Rs 127 billion decline to Rs 7.464 trillion down from Rs 7.591 trillion. Trading took place in 378 companies, of which 58 closed in green zone, 302 in the red, while 18 companies remained unchanged. Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS said the negativity prevailed as the market lost 945 points during the intraday trading, however, later the market showed some recovery and closed the index with a 2 percent decline.
"Negativity can be attributed to consecutive foreign selling this entire week amid global dip in equity markets across the board," he added. All sectors remained depressed, whereas top performers were EFUL (+4.6 percent) and APL (+1.5 percent). Moving forward, he said we expect volatility to continue as the roll-over week starts Monday.
Major volume leaders were K-Electric Ltd, Jah. Sidd. Co, TRG Pak Ltd, Dewan Cement and Silk Bank Ltd with traded volume of 38 million, 14.6 million, 12.3 million, 12 million and 11.713 million shares, respectively. Indus Dyeing and Akzo Nobel Pak were the top gainers with Rs 53.52 and Rs 14.46 to close at Rs 1,140.00 and Rs 319.26, respectively. Colgate Palmolive and Abbott Lab were the top losers with Rs 40.00 and Rs 26.26 to close at Rs 1,450.00 and Rs 672.49, respectively.