KARACHI: Stocks tumbled on Monday as the KSE-100 index rolled down by 248.28 points (0.72 per cent) to close at 34,278.42.

The end of June closing for companies in several sectors and the market’s rollover week were thought to be the major reasons for profit-taking. Also the tune up in political noise unnerved investors as most institutional and individual players decided to stay on the sidelines.

Volume decreased to 188 million shares from 207m traded last Friday, but the trading value increased to Rs7.2 billion from Rs5.5bn, indicating investors’ interest in high-priced stocks.

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Dealers on the sales desk at Topline Securities pointed out that Engro and PAEL witnessed decent trading value of Rs710bn and Rs474bn, respectively.

Major interest was seen in index heavy-weight stocks like OGDCL and MCB, which helped the market to arrest further slide.

Foreign investors sold stocks worth $1.25m. Companies bought shares valued at $3.05m, while mutual funds sold $3.07m worth stocks to rebalance their portfolio ahead of the year-end.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stated that investors booked profits in selected blue-chip scrips across the board.

Trade was led by second- and third-tier stocks on strong valuations with Dewan cement and K-Electric again taking the top slot. Higher capital gains tax slabs levied from next month and falling global crude prices played a major role in the prevailing session.

Analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan stated that as the rollover week has started, liquidity in the market was expected to remain low throughout the week.

Oil and gas sector remained depressed with PSO, PPL and POL loosing 1.1pc, 0.5pc and 1.5pc, respectively.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2015

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