The Karachi stocks market Monday nosedived by 154 points on Monday as the investors at the country’s largest bourse cautiously reacted to Saturday’s deadly aerial Nato attack and the resultant uncertainty shrouding the fate of Pakistan-US ties.
Witnessing “panic selling”, first day of the week saw the benchmark KSE 100-share index setting in the red zone to shed 153.99 points or 1.32 per cent, to close at 11,494.15 points against 11,648.14 points of the last week (on Friday). “Panic selling was witnessed at KSE after NATO attacked two border check posts of Pak-Army on Saturday,” said Arif Habib Investments’ Ahsan Mehanti adding that “uncertainty loomed over future level of cooperation with NATO.”
The intraday high and low was, respectively, recorded at 11,648.14 and 11,404.71 points. The analysts said this was the intraday high that helped the index manage to close above the 11,000 level. “Intraday recovery on institutional support in oversold scrips,” Mehanti viewed. Amid thin activity and across-the-board selling, the trading volumes, however, managed to recover and were counted at the ready-counter at 46.243 million shares against 28.176 million shares traded in the last session. The trading value also appreciated to Rs2 billion compared to Rs1.4 billion of the previous day. Of the total 313 scrips traded, 69 advanced, 158 declined and 86 remained unchanged. The market capitalisation amounted to Rs2.993 trillion, registering a slump of Rs39 billion when compared to Friday’s 3.032 trillion.
The KSE 30 index also registered losses, as the index declined by 186.66 points closing at 10,745.34 points against the previous 10,932.00. The index hit intraday high and low of 11,932.00 and 10,666.46. According to Mehanti, “selling witnessed in stocks across the board with thin activity.”
The market observer said that a strong recovery in the Asian stocks and commodity markets helped the KSE 100-share index to close above 11,400 points. Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim was volume leader of the day having counted its traded shares at 4.7 million. The fertiliser giant’s share price set in the red zone and closed at Rs55.07 after opening at Rs56.55.
Other best performers included Lotte PakPTA, Fatima Fertiliser Company, Bank Al-Falah, MCB Bank Limited, NIB Bank Limited, Fauji Fertiliser XD, WorldCall Telecom, Nimir Ind. Chemicals and Engro Corporation POT.
These scrips counted their traded shares, respectively, at 2.7 million, 2.6 million, 2.4 million, 2.4 million, 2.3 million, 1.8 million, 1.7 million, 1.3 million and 1.1 million shares. The future market also remained bearish with trading turnover contracting to a meager 4.9 million shares against the previous 14.335 million. The scrips that gained numbered 16, those categorised as minus were 92 with no-one to see the unchanged status. FFBL-DEC led the companies with 1.221 million of its shares traded on the day.
