KARACHI: Volatility prevailed on the stock market on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index closing down by 54.51 points (0.14 per cent) at 38,415.31.

The market started out on a positive note with the index making to the intra-day high by 136 points, but it was unable to sustain the level and declined on profit-booking in the absence of triggers and the rollover week.

Volume increased 4pc to 154.5 million shares while traded value fell 17pc to Rs8.3bn. Activity was confined to third tier stocks as JSCL, K-Electric, Dewan Cement and Dewan Farooque Motors led volumes with cumulative contribution of 59.3m shares. Foreign investors sold-off equity worth $7.47m on Tuesday, which was absorbed by the local ‘individuals’ who bought stocks net worth $7.59m.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp commented that the stocks close lower amid consolidation in the futures rollover week.

Pressure was witnessed in the oil sector that remained largely depressed on the back of global oil prices coming down near 0.5pc ahead of US weekly stockpile data. NRL down 1.38pc and BYCO 1.54pc were the biggest losers of the sector.

DCL and DFML fell 6.4pc and 6.1pc -- both experienced considerable selling pressure over rumours of an unsuccessful meeting with bankers for potential debt re-structuring. Akzo Nobel closed at its upper limit gaining 5pc with impressive volume of 4.7m shares.

Analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan at JS Global stated that profit-taking was seen in the banking sector that remained mostly negative throughout the day despite the news of China easing rules for Pakistan’s banks to operate there.

Profit-taking continued in the cement sector with all major stocks closing in the red zone. DGKC declined by 1.14pc.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2016