KARACHI: Bears took charge of the stock market on Wednesday, a day ahead of the historic appearance of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before a joint investigation team (JIT) probing corruption allegations against his family.

The trading was choppy with the benchmark KSE-100 index opening on a bullish note. But after adding 531 points, the benchmark succumbed to selling pressure as individuals and mutual funds exited positions. Foreign investors continued buying spree for the sixth session, picking up stocks worth $3.43 million on Wednesday.

The benchmark index finally ended with a loss of 462 points, or 0.96 per cent, to close again below the 48,000 level.

Volumes fell 19pc over the earlier day to 256m shares. Mid-tier stocks Dost Steels, TRG Pakistan and K-Electric as volume leaders contributed 39m shares to the total turnover. Traded value stood reduced by 30pc to Rs15 billion.

Stocks that took the worst beating included Engro Corporation which dropped 2.5pc, Hub Power Company 1.8pc, Pakistan Oilfields (POL) 3pc, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) 1.4pc and Lucky Cement 1.2pc, eroding 167 points off the index. In contrast, Habib Bank rose 1.9pc, DG Khan Cement 2.2pc, Bank Al-Habib 1.3pc, Fatima Fertiliser Company 3.3pc and Adamjee Insurance 2.3pc, adding 117 points to the index.

Oil stocks remained under pressure on account of falling international oil prices. Apart from OGDC and POL, Pakistan Petroleum (down 0.30pc) also closed in the red.

Sector-wise, fertiliser shed 82 points, exploration and production 74 points, oil-marketing companies 67 points, power 48 points, cement 43 points and the engineering sector was down 28 points. Banks were in demand and added 29 points to the index.

K-Electric informed the Pakistan Stock Exchange that it received a fresh public announcement of intention for the acquisition of up to 66.4pc of its voting shares by Shanghai Electric Power Company, subject to receipt of requisite regulatory and other approvals. Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bearish amid pressure brought about by institutional profit-taking in oil, banking and fertiliser scrips.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2017