Thursday saw a fourth consecutive decline at the Karachi bourse, weighed mainly by panic selling. The KSE-100 Index lost 418 points or 1.22 percent to close at 33,786.42 points from 34,203.99 points of the previous day. Analysts attributed the bearish trend to institutional profit-taking and panic selling by risk-averse investors.
"Stocks closed bearish for the fourth session of the week on institutional profit-taking and various rumours inviting panic selling," said Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp Muhammad Mobeen at JS Research said scrips across-the-board witnessed a bloodbath as investors opted to book profits. This, he said, was due to the uncertainty going forward.
With intraday high and low standing, respectively, at 34,237.85 and 33,493.78 points, the foreign portfolio investment witnessed a net selling of $2 million. "Investor interest is hit by continuous foreign outflow fearing further selling would emanate from the foreign front," said Mobeen. The trading volume surged to 324 million shares from Wednesday's 258.4 million. Value of the stocks traded shot up to Rs 19 billion from Rs 16 billion. Of the total 381 scrips traded, only 89 settled in green zone, 266 lost their worth and 26 stayed unchanged. The market capital inched down to Rs 7.69 trillion compared to Rs 7.79 trillion of a day earlier.
Jahangir Siddiqui Company gained 12 paisa to lead the day's volumes with 42 million traded stakes. Pak Elektron was traded by 24 million shares, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 16 million, Maple Leaf Cement 15.2 million, Engro Fertilizer 13.3 million, Fauji Cement 12 million, PIA 11 million, K-Electric 17.9 million, 10.6 million, Engro Corporation 9.9 million and D.G Khan Cement 9.7 million shares.
Trading on futures market rose to 41 million contracts from the previous 35 million. The catalysts for the session, to Mehanti, included uncertainty in global commodities and consolidation post earning announcements. A strong sales growth in Jan'15, however, extended some support to select auto and cement stocks. HCAR was seen continuing its 'euphoric' growth to reach its second consecutive upper circuit. Within banking sector, MCB remained one of the preferred stocks after the bank announced an earning per share (EPS) of Rs 21.85 and Rs 4 dividend per share. Going forward, the market is expected to remain rangebound.