KARACHI, Nov 12: Deteriorating law and order situation in the country’s commercial hub forced stock investors to square their positions on Monday and also booked profits at higher levels after the market ended on a record high in the previous trading session, brokers said.

The KSE 100-share index ended 0.18 per cent, or 29.59 points lower at 16,213.68 points. It made an all-time high at 16,278.00 points on Thursday.

Turnover marginally decreased to 149.41 shares, compared with 152.94 million shares traded on Thursday. Trading value also fell by more than Rs2.3 billion to Rs3.52 billion from Rs5.88 billion the previous trading session.

Market capitalisation stood at Rs4.043 trillion, lower than Thursday’s capitalisation of Rs4.049 trillion.

“Prevailing law and order situation of the city forced investors to trim their portfolio. Oil and fertiliser sector remained under pressure,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.

A spate of killings across the city in the last few days made investors cautious, brokers said.

Energy stocks such as Pakistan State Oil ended 46 paisa lower at Rs216.92 and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd shed Rs1.60 to end at Rs177.02.

Fertiliser sector also witnessed pressure as Engro Corp lost Rs3.39 to Rs91.84.

“Unrest in the city, fall in rupee dollar parity ahead of IMF loan repayments due this month, uncertain global stocks and commodities, limited foreign interest and rising political uncertainty played a catalyst role in bearish sentiments,” said Ahsan Mehanti from Arif Habib Ltd.

“Investor support continued in second and third tier stocks on strong valuations.”

Some interest came in cement stocks as well as selling was witnessed last week.

Foreigners became net sellers as they sold shares worth a net $705,021, compared with a net buying of $15.68 million, bringing the total for this month to $22.1 million. But individuals were the major buyers with equity worth $1.8 million.

The market capitalisation based KSE 30-index fell by 0.46 per cent, or 61.56 points, to close at 13,269.90 points.

Out of the 331 companies traded, the value of 162 increased, 145 decreased, while 24 remained unchanged, indicating that the pressure was on index-heavyweights.

The biggest gainers and losers were as follows: On the plus side, Unilever Food was up by Rs180 to Rs3,780, followed by Island Textile which was up by Rs24.42 to Rs512.93. On the declining side, Exide Pakistan lost Rs13 to Rs317 and Sitara Chemical which decreased by Rs6.74 to Rs177.

The list of volume leaders included mainly middle tier shares: JS Bank rose 54 paisa to Rs6.45 on 17.5 million shares, Azgard Nine gained 54 paisa to Rs7.59 on 17.36 million shares and Fauji Cement ended 11 paisa higher at Rs6.64 on 11.49 million shares.

Jahangir Siddiqui Co gained Re1 to Rs16.14 on 11.42 million shares. DG Khan Cement rose 60 paisa to Rs53.25 on 7.32 million shares, and JS Investments ended 49 paisa higher at Rs9.59 on 7.25 million shares.

Bank of Punjab ended 23 paisa higher at Rs8.73 on 3.54 million shares, Lafarge Pakistan shed 5 paisa to Rs5.25 on 3.51 million shares and Fatima Fertiliser gained 30 paisa to Rs26.37 on turnover of 3.43 million shares.

Nishat Chunian ended 50 paisa lower at Rs28.08 on 3.42 million shares.