KARACHI: The stock market witnessed a bloodbath on Monday as the KSE-100 index plunged by 781 points (1.90 per cent) to close at 40,324 points.

Deafening noise on the political front, uncertainty on external account and absence of major triggers caused stocks to slump. The day started on a pessimistic note after an accountability court issued bailable arrest warrants for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for failing to appear before the court in connection with NAB’s reference pertaining to assets beyond means.

Intermarket Securities said in its daily report that the overall gloomy sentiment took a turn for the worst amid additional news flow suggesting further headwinds for the cement sector.

News flow pertaining to cartel breaking ahead of schedule and Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif ordering a probe into cement plants’ illegal expansion and their use of ground water took its toll on the sentiment. Subsequently, cements came under heavy pressure with Lucky falling down 5pc, followed by DGKC 4.52pc, FCCL 4.07pc, KOHC 4.90pc, CHCC 1.85pc, Maple Leaf 1.10pc and ACPL 2.23pc closing deep into red.

“Panic that gripped bewildered investors could be sensed from their jettisoning of sound securities with strong payout at throw away prices to either book their losses or profits, forcing the market to closer lower,” dealers at Topline Securities noted.

Leading laggards on Monday included Lucky which fell 5pc, UBL 3.3pc, HBL 2.1pc, Hubco 3.3pc and MCB 2pc, withholding 273 points. The top 5 index point contributors were POL up 2.1pc, COLG 5pc, THALL 1.2pc, JLICL 2pc and Mari 0.3pc, adding 48 points.

Among banks, UBL lost 3.28pc, while HBL gained 2.13pc. BAHL was down 2.16pc, followed by MCB 2.04pc and NBP 0.98pc, closing in the red zone and cumulatively taking away 175 points.

Volumes dipped to 98 million shares, from 133m shares traded on Friday while traded value also declined to Rs6.32 billion, from Rs7.95bn.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2017