Market watch: Stock market loses 448 points amid profit-taking

Benchmark index decreases 1.14% to settle at 38,851.96 points

KARACHI: Investors resorted to profit-taking at the Pakistan stock market on Tuesday as concerns over weak economic condition continued to worry market players.

After a positive start that pushed the market up by 39 points, the KSE-100 index remained in the negative zone throughout the day. Dismal home remittances in November 2018, news report about the World Bank cancelling a $250-million emergency relief loan for Pakistan, weak export data for November and falling global crude oil prices played the role of a catalyst in the market’s decline.

At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 447.67 points or 1.14% to settle at 38,851.96.



Elixir Securities' analyst Murtaza Jafar said equities turned lower amid low volumes, closing down 448 points at 38,852. He said the day started on a bearish note as investors opted to book profits after a steep rise on Monday.

“Overall activity remained lacklustre with only 84 million shares changing hands in the KSE-100 index, but cement and steel stocks like Lucky Cement (+0.36%) and DG Khan Cement (+0.56%) found some support in midday trading and recovered from the day’s lows after the news of lifting the ban on construction of high-rise buildings in Sindh,” he said.

Meanwhile, Amreli Steels (+2.73%) shot up to its upper price limit before succumbing to profit-taking. “Going forward, we expect the market to find support at 38,800/600 levels,” the analyst added.



Overall, trading volumes decreased to 124.01 million shares compared with Monday's tally of 154.2 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.8 billion.

Shares of 343 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 80 stocks closed higher, 231 declined and 32 remained unchanged.

Pak Elektron was the volume leader with 9.2 million shares, losing Rs0.06 to close at Rs25. It was followed by Amreli Steels with 8.6 million shares, gaining Rs1.39 to close at Rs52.37 and K-Electric with 7.8 million shares, losing Rs0.05 to close at Rs5.93.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs486.9 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.