KARACHI: Equities fell for the fourth successive trading session on Monday, with the Karachi Stock Exchange’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index losing 124.09 points (0.37 per cent) to close at 33,732.91.

Traded volumes slumped 21pc to 144 million shares, while traded value rose 4pc to Rs6.2 billion, signifying shift in investors’ interest to big-cap stocks.

Some market participants have started to wonder if the incessant selling by foreigners and declining index was the lull before the storm. “If the current scenario persists and volumes/index stays where it is, we feel that we may be heading for a storm that could be brewing on the back of upcoming rate hike by US Fed which in return would ignite a global sell-off,” said a dealer on the sales desk of a major brokerage house.

“In a nutshell, things are expected to be in limbo for some time to come,” said analysts at brokerage Intermarket Securities. On Monday foreigners bought stocks worth a minor $0.21m.

But mood had not darkened at several brokerage houses. “The local bourse continued its sluggish performance as the latest monetary policy statement contained no positive news,” said dealers at Topline Securities.

Investors were said to have offloaded cement sector stocks amid speculation of an increase in Federal Excise Duty (FED) or imposition of Special Excise Duty (SED) in order to generate additional tax revenue in the current fiscal year. MLCF, DGKC, FCCL and LUCK fell by 0.9 to1.9pc.

One major brokerage firm blamed the dullness on the oil and gas sector to 2pc decline in Brent oil.

However, analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp stated that stocks closed lower amid cautious activity on falling global crude prices and status quo in the SBP policy announcement on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015