KARACHI: Stocks came under selling pressure on Wednesday with the KSE-100 index retracing its steps back from the 32,000 level, representing a fall of 250.11 points to close at 31,756.29.

The market started off on a positive note with the bulls retaining control to take the index further up to intra-day gain of 471 points.

Yet the investors concerned over uncertainties ahead decided to play safe and take their cash off the table.

The market waited with bated breath for the outcome of meetings thought to be taking place all through the day among the State Bank of Pakistan, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the prominent brokerage house, the KASB Securities which was res­trained from trading by the Regulator from Tuesday till further orders.

The investor concerns were exacerbated by the developments on the political front with major political parties feared to be treading on a collision course.

No nervousness was discernible among the foreign investors who bought and sold Pakistan equities in the gross sum of $8.78m and $7.11m, respectively, to end up with net inflow of $1.68m.

Analyst Arhum Ghous at JS Global said that the profit-taking was witnessed in the last trading hour after consecutive bullish sessions for last two days.

Hascol hit its upper circuit due to optimism of investors regarding the improved fourth quarter earnings as OMC margins have been approved.

Cherat Packaging witnessed stellar growth due to cost reduction programme and expanding sales pool to Africa and Europe region.

Finally Mari hit its lower lock in the last hour on Wednesday after a sustained rally that lasted for several weeks. “Institu­tional profit-taking was witnessed in overbought market amid concerns for rising receivables in energy sector,” analyst Ahsan Mehanti simplified the market trend, adding that trade remained high despite weak sentiments on suspension of major broker.

Published in Dawn, November 20th , 2014