Market watch: Sentiment stays bearish, KSE-100 dives 432 points to close below 42,000

Benchmark index drops 1.02% to finish trading at 41,869.65

KARACHI: With no respite in sight, the stock market continued to bleed for the fifth successive session on Thursday as the benchmark index retreated 432 points to finish trading below 42,000 points.

Investors stayed on the sidelines as developments on political and economic fronts continued to dampen sentiments. The KSE-100 Index remained on a downward trajectory since the trading began with no positive triggers as stocks faced selling pressure across the board.

The central bank released data that suggested that external public debt and liabilities may touch $100 billion in the near future, which further dented sentiments.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 431.55 points or 1.02% to settle at 41,869.65.



Elixir Securities' analyst Ali Raza said Pakistan equities slipped by 1% amid dull activity at the start of Ramazan.

The market opened sideways and drifted lower as the session progressed with mainboard names showing very selective participation.

However, in the last hour, heavy selling was witnessed as notable sectors such as steel (-3.6%), cement (-2.7%) and oil refinery and marketing (-2.4%) underwent a meltdown on reported institutional selling while any support at lows from serious buyers remained absent, Raza said.

Even the banking sector (-1.8%) could not garner investor interest despite relaxation in super tax for FY19.



"We see equities remaining out of favour in the near term with chartists now eyeing 41,300/200 as important support levels," he said.

Shares of 307 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 72 stocks closed higher, 219 declined while 16 remained unchanged.

Overall, trading volumes fell to 56.9 million shares compared with Wednesday's tally of 77.5 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs2.6 billion.

Pak Elektron (XD) was the volume leader with seven million shares, losing Rs1.93 to close at Rs36.95. It was followed by K-Electric with 4.8 million shares, gaining Rs0.05 to close at Rs6.12 and Dewan Cement with 3.9 million shares, losing Rs0.87 to close at Rs16.97.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs239 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.