Selling pressure continued Thursday as the KSE-100 index tumbled by another 324 points to close at 31,820 points. The volatile index moved both ways to hit the session''s high and low of 32,205 points and 31,782 points. Trading turnover slid to 113 million shares from the previous 169 million. Traded value also contracted by Rs 2.3 billion to Rs 6.99 billion.
Of the 345 scrips traded, 82 posted gains, 242 lost their worth while 21 remained unchanged. Market capital accumulated to Rs 6.72 trillion. Foreign investors were net sellers of $129,000 portfolios. Byco petroleum led volumes with 1.8 million shares trading. The energy issue, however, depleted to Rs 18.27 at close. Others performing well were TRG Pakistan, TPL Trakker, JSCL, K-Electric, SNGPL, Bank of Punjab, OGDC, PIA and Pace Pakistan.
Trade in futures contracts settled down at 16.9 million compared to 22.6 million of last session. "Stocks closed bearish amid selling in oil scrips and global equities selloff after crude oil slipped below $27 a barrel," Ahsan Mehanti Arif of Habib Corp. The analyst said pressure was witnessed in selected scrips across the board on dismal exports data and weak earnings. "Uncertainty in global equities played a catalyst role in the bearish close in the earnings season ignoring upbeat car sales data for Jul-Jan''16 and strong earnings announced in banking and cement stocks," he said.