KARACHI: Stocks exten­ded losses on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index sinking further by 296 points (0.72 per cent) to close yet again the below the support level of 41,100 at 40,944 points.

The index was weighed down by the overnight MSCI announcement of the results for November 2017 Semi Annual Index Review, which went against the consensus expectations, as the international index provider did not add PPL as was widely believed and instead pushed out Engro Corporation from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Political uncertainty and lack of triggers added fuel to the fire.

“On the flip side some respite was perceived on the external front given allowance of $3 billion borrowing from international debt markets,” stated dealers at Topline Securities.

Contrary to market fears, foreigners did not take the flight on MSCI negative outcome and instead bought stocks worth $4.20m. Among local participants, mutual funds who ditch stocks at the first sign of trouble sold-off $2.90m worth shares.

The volume rose 60pc over the earlier day to 140m shares while the traded value was up 57pc to Rs5.84bn.

The benchmark index made intraday high of 77 points and dipped of -340 points. According to Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp, investor support in selected oil, fertiliser and auto stocks invited mid-session support.

Major losers were Engro Corp hitting its lower lock, OGDC down 2.2pc, Dawood Hercules 5pc, MCB Bank 2.1pc and PPL 1.3pc, taking away 235 points from the index. On the other side, HBL was up 1pc, Hum Network 4pc, Nestle 1.3pc, The Searle 1.3pc and FCCL 1.3pc, adding 56 points.

On the sector front, tech, foods and textile cumulatively contributed 29 points to the index, while fertiliser eroded 128 points, followed by E&P’s shedding 96 points and banks 41 points.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2017