KARACHI: Stocks tumbled on Wednesday with the KSE-100 index down 84.45 points (0.24 per cent) to close at 35,461.58 points.

The index initially shot up by 223 points, but was dragged down to intra-day decline of 106 points. The major reason for the fall was the huge selling by foreign investor worth $20.21 million. Local participants unnerved by the foreign selling were major buyers.

Traded volume was down by 24pc to 211m shares from 278m shares traded the previous day whereas traded value declined by 17pc to Rs10.5bn from Rs12.7bn the earlier day.

According to brokerage Topline Securities, major profit-taking was witnessed in MCB Bank, Packages and K-Electric.

Brisk activity was witnessed in mid cap stocks like KEL, FFBL, Dewan Cement and International Steels with traded volumes of 17.3m shares, 13.4m shares, 8.7m shares and 7.8m shares, respectively.

Ahmed Saeed Khan of JS Global observed that the index took a roller-coaster ride. Earlier in the day, the market responded to the positive triggers but foreign selling shook investors’ confidence in the second half of the day.
Sentiments in cement sector were boosted due to the drop in the international coal prices. Top gainers in the sector were LUCK (1.35pc), ACPL (1.05pc) and Power Cement (0.29pc).

The pharmaceutical sector remained depressed ending its positive streak with major losers being ABOT (2.13pc) and SEARL (2.01pc).

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp said that the stocks closed lower on late session profit-taking in selected scrips across the board after major earnings announcements. Weak sentiments on falling global stocks and commodities, political uncertainty and dismal earnings outlook in oil and banking sectors played a catalyst role in bearish activity at the local market.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play