KARACHI
The shares market stood badly battered on Thursday with the KSE 100-index falling by a steep 407.54 points or 1.3 per cent to close at 30,678.97 points, a fresh three-month low.
The market opened on a positive note on the back of the recent report of Moody’s expressing a positive outlook on Pakistan’s economic future. However, the positivity was short-lived. Volumes improved from Wednesday’s lackluster session. Persistent foreign selling followed by locals panicking became the major reason for volatile market. All sectors took a hit, primarily led by cements, chemicals and banks. Another bearish session was witnessed at KSE ahead of quarter-end close with high trades amid investors panic on foreign selling. Investors ignored Moody upgrade on Pakistan bond ratings to positive and major success in ongoing anti-insurgents military offensive. Political uncertainty in Sindh impacted the sentiments. Late session interest in oil and fertilizer scrips after sharp recovery in crude prices, commodities supported the index to close above session lows, said analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
Another session of panic selling was witnessed at the bourse as the KSE 100-index fell 1.3% to close at a 3-month low. The index was down 3% at one point during the day. However, global sell-off due to turmoil in Middle East added fuel to the fire at a time when foreigners are net sellers and rollover of futures contracts is underway. There was speculation of aggressive selling by local funds, which further dampened market sentiments.
Buying by local institutions in the latter half of the session helped recovery of leading cement and fertilizer stocks, which had declined sharply earlier, observed analyst Samar Iqbal. Volumes improved tremendously to 258m shares (Rs12.7b/ $124m), compared to Wednesday’s volume of 99m shares (Rs6.1b/$59.9m).
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