KARACHI: The recovery seen a day earlier was merely the dead cat bounce phenomenon for the stocks sank again on Wednesday and the KSE-100 index plunged 260.28 points (0.83 per cent) to close at 30,971.27.

The index remained in the red all through the session. Oil shares were the market spoilers but some saw the oil fall as a mere slip.

Arif Habib Ltd stated that with Opec+ meeting scheduled for tomorrow, followed by G20 on Friday, on the same subject ie production cut and management of crude price, local exploration and production stocks fall did not match the heavier drop witnessed in crude rates.

The volume in the cement topped 42 million shares, but the prices remained generally on the downside.

Investors’ attention was fixated on the global rise in the pandemic cases which also spilled into Pakistan with numbers of dead and the sick on the rise. Gripped by fear, participants ignored the positive news of the Financial Action Task Force extending its review date to October. On the flip side, the tumbling value of the rupee was another big concern.

Optimists could still be found. An independent trader said that markets globally are now ruled by fear. But like many, he was ready to seize an opportunity when one presented itself. “Investors ought to know how to make money from a downward market,” he said and recommended that the first thing for the people to do is to protect their assets. Never mind what the stock brokerages say, people are moving money to safer assets, ­currency, money market, treasury bills etc.

In the refinery sector, all three major ones closed in the red following the government’s directive to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority for action against oil marketing companies for their reluctance to uplift petroleum products, said analysts.

Heavyweight stocks that mainly pulled the index down included Pakistan Petroleum, lower by 1.6pc, Pakistan Oilfields 2.7pc, Habib Bank 1.3pc, United Bank 1.6pc, Engro Corpo­ra­tion 1pc and Lucky Cement 2.7pc.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2020