KARACHI: Stocks fell on the Karachi stock market on Monday with the KSE-100 index down 73.07 points or 0.31 per cent to 23,600.23.

The market started out in the red and lost nearly one per cent or 231 points to touch its day's low at 23,441.53 points, mainly on investors' fears over the interest rate hike in the upcoming Monetary Policy, as well as worries over increase in gas tariff.

On both counts, the cement and fertiliser stocks took a severe beating with the two major stocks, Fauji Fertiliser and Engro Corporation taking a dip of 1.3 and 3.9pc.”

Fertiliser stocks continued to be besieged by negative news flow as the government mulls removing subsidy in the form of cheaper feed stock price and replacing it with a direct subsidy to farmers," analyst Ovais Ahsan at JS Global commented.

The cement sector also weakened as fears of a down-turn in demand in the wake of widespread floods kept sentiments depressed.

However, while the weak and meek investors scrambled to book profit, foreign investors seized the opportunity to buy at lower levels. The figures released by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan (NCCL) revealed net inflow of $2.99m on Monday. Among the local participants, banks also picked up stocks valued at $4.70m, while companies bought stocks worth $0.27m.

Mutual funds continued to take profit with net sale at $2.37m and individuals, mainly small investors and punters disposing of a part of their portfolio of second and third tier stocks worth $3.77m.

The foreign and institutional buying helped lift prices of some of the heavy weight stocks, which trimmed the index loss by the end of trading. PSO closed 2.2pc up over market chatter of better-than-expected upcoming results of the oil marketing company. Hub Power Company also rallied by 3.3pc after the company reported surprisingly higher dividend at Rs4.50 per share.

The market capitalisation based KSE-30 index shed 43.25 points or 0.24pc to 18,359.03.

Market capitalisation was shaved off Rs21bn to Rs5.808 trillion.

Turnover was slightly up to 156m shares on Monday, from 153m shares traded last Friday.

Trading value improved to Rs8.575bn, from Rs7.694bn, signifying concentration of activity in the top-tier companies.

The highest rise was noted in Nestle Pakistan, up by Rs100 to Rs6,460 while the chief laggards was Rafhan Maize down by Rs164 to Rs5295.

In all, 361 stocks came up for trading on Monday with 218 ending in negative territory, ahead of the 125 scrips in positive zone.

On the 10-top traded scrips, Kot Addu Power stood on the top slot with 11m shares traded down by Rs1.26 to Rs58.46. National Bank of Pakistan, after hitting the day’s highest to Rs58.80, retreated near the end of the day to Rs58.29 with gain of 23 paisa.

Hub Power Company’s results and payout received warm welcome with the stock taking a big leap forward by Rs2.29 to Rs71.61 on 10m shares.

Fauji Cement was down 38 paisa to Rs14.97 on 10m shares; Bank of Punjab shed 6 paisa to Rs13.63 on 9m shares and Maple Leaf Cement edged lower by 2 paisa to Rs28.51 on 5m shares. Engro Corporation plunged by Rs5.98 to Rs145.64 on 5m shares.

Bank Al-Falah was down 16 paisa to Rs21.71 on 4m shares; JS Investments lost 85 paisa to Rs8.60 on 4m shares, but PSO supported the market with a gain of Rs7.53 to Rs355.23 on 4m shares on expectations of hefty earnings and dividend.