KARACHI – Market closed down 35 points after a dull trading session with almost all major oil, banking and fertiliser stocks remaining in the ‘red’ throughout the day. Local institutional interest can be gauged by low volumes of 54 million shares as most preferred to stay sidelined amid bleak political and economic scenario. Reports of a meeting today between MQM and President Zardari to sort out differences kept investors double minded.
The MQM seeks clear answers from the President before ending their boycott of the provincial assembly. Meanwhile, the IMF team is meeting ministry of finance officials for possible release of the last tranche of $1.7 billion with the inclusion of further performance targets.
The KSE-100 index closed at a level of 11,940.01 with a loss of 34.54 points while total volume stood at 29,717,778 along with the total value of 1,760,336,570. KSE-30 index lost 49.22 points to close at a level of 11,641.19, and the All Share index closed at 8,329.19 after losing 23.60 points.
While local participants waited for the outcome of the meeting amongst major political parties, others were put off by diplomatic tensions with the US and the deteriorating financial and economic situation. Value buying in selective stocks did restrict the decline in the benchmark with low volume and the absence of buyers on intervals increased the level of low volume price erosion.
The divide over forecasting the future market trend, despite positive developments regarding availability of financing channels, amongst the local financial groups and resident players have cast doubt on the confidence of many investors include corporate participants. While volatility in the Arab world and the issue of worsening ties with the US has kept the local bourse exposed to sell-off by foreign participants, including expatriates, it has also forced prominent investors to maintain a low profile. This was shown by the extreme decline in turnover that barely crossed the 50 million mark.
