Stocks take another beating, KSE-100 falls 536 points

Index-heavy oil sector suffers amid falling crude prices

KARACHI: The KSE-100 Index took a beating on Monday, plunging 536 points or 1.09% to end at 48,655.72.

Falling crude prices in the international market took their toll on the index-heavy oil and gas sector amid dull trading with cumulative volume dipping to 133 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 182 million.

According to JS Research analyst Arham Ghous, the market is expected to remain volatile. He recommended investors to stay cautious.

"(POL -3.81%) and (PPL -2.03%) plummeted further down and closed in the red as oil prices skid to their lowest in three months despite OPEC efforts to curb crude output," he said.



"Banking sector closed (-0.67%) lower than its previous day as sector heavy weights (MCB -0.97%, (UBL -1.95%) and (HBL -0.28%) closed in the red zone.

"(ISL +2.74%), (ASL +4.09%), (STCL +7.54%) and (INIL +0.83%) perked up, closing in the green as Lahore High Court did not grant any stay order to commercial importers of tiles, steel and paper in the four new petitions filed against the anti-dumping duty investigations by the National Tariff Commission," he added.

Elixir Securities analyst Ali Raza said index names saw little interest as institutional participation remained highly selective while retail investors traded cautiously in the wider market in absence of major triggers.

"Major dent came from Index heavy Oils that opened gap down and traded lower throughout with Oil & Gas Dec (OGDC PA -2%) leading the declines as investors tracked the latest plunge in global crude due to rising US production," he said.



"United Bank (UBL PA -2%) too continued to slip as anxiety and confusion over Friday's rumour of leadership change remained.

"Expect volumes to pick up in days ahead with local interest in (MSCI EM) names likely lifting sentiments while any clarity on Panama Case and planned new leverage product is expected to boost investors' interest in wider market," he added.

Shares of 397 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 82 stocks closed higher, 296 declined while 19 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs7.2 billion.



Aisha Steel Mill was the volume leader with 10.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.74 to close at Rs22.74. It was followed by Pak Refinery with 9.98 million shares, losing Rs3.14 to close at Rs59.73 and Dost Steels Limited with 9.01 million shares, losing Rs0.04 to close at Rs14.12.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs355 million during the trading session, according to data maintained by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.