Stock market nosedives by 904 points during intra-day trading

Adam Securities analyst says market is under pressure due to heavy selling by foreign funds

KARACHI: Bearish sentiments prevailed on the Karachi bourse on Thursday, as the benchmark index declined by as much as 2.9%, or 904 points, during intra-day trading.

However, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 Index recovered some loss later on and stood at 30456.8 points, down 1.9% from the start of the trading session, around 2:25pm.

Adam Securities analyst Fahad Hussain Khan speaking to The Express Tribune, said the market is under pressure due to heavy selling by foreign funds. Political uncertainty in Karachi has also led investors to sell their holdings, he added.

“Foreign selling is pushing the index into the red zone. Cement and banking sectors are particularly under pressure,” Khan said.

The KSE-100 Index is down today although just yesterday Moody’s upgraded Pakistan’s foreign currency government bond rating from stable to positive – something that should have triggered bullish sentiments in the market.

Read: Moody's upgrades Pakistan’s bond rating

The decline in share prices has been across the board so far, although a few stocks like OGDC, Pak Oilfields, Murree Brewery, Ismail Industries and Nestle managed to inch upwards during the inter-day trading.

Trade volumes on Wednesday touched their six-month low point, as only as 99 million shares were traded worth Rs6.1 billion.

Read: Market watch: Bourse continues dismal run, tests 31,000 level

The volume traded until 2:47pm clocked up at 218.8 million shares with the value of shares traded clocking up at Rs10.3 billion.