Institutional profit-taking in the index heavyweight oil scrips made the volatile bourse bearish Monday. The KSE-100 index slid to 35,588.05, down 349 points or 0.97 percent compared to 35,937.33 Thursday. The week's first trading session saw the benchmark index showing volatility by hitting the intraday high and low of 36,008.56 and 35,581.02 points, respectively.
"Stocks closed lower on institutional profit-taking in oil scrips after plunge in WTI crude below $42 a barrel," viewed Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp. Dip in international oil prices over the weekend led the oil sector into the weak zone, said JS analyst Arhum Ghous. Oil scrips such as PSO, PPL and OGDC shed 1.6, 3.0 and 3.6 percent, respectively.
The trading turnover at the ready-counter was recorded lower at 348 million shares compared to the previous 380 million. The traded value, however, inched up to Rs 11.10 billion from Rs 11.06 billion of last session. The market capitalisation accumulated to Rs 7.68 trillion with foreign investors appearing as net sellers of portfolios worth $3.99 million.
Silk Bank was the day's volume leader with 86.74 million shares. Other best performing stocks included K-Electric 55 million, SNGP 14.7 million, TRG Pakistan 12.9 million, Ghani Global Glass 9.3 million, Descon Chemical 7.9 million, Dewan Cement 6.9 million, Pak Elektron 6.6 million, SSGC 6.1 million and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal 5.9 million shares.
Futures trade was recorded moving upward to 31.57 million contracts from Thursday's 28.09 million. "Rising political uncertainty after leaders of major political party submitted resignations, uncertainty in global stocks and commodities and security unrest in the country impacted the sentiment," said Mehanti. Going forward, the bourse is expected to pick up momentum due to the corporate results season.