KARACHI: Stocks fell for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday. The KSE-100 Index succumbed to selling pressure after the sentiment dampener MSCI semi-annual review was unveiled a day earlier.

The KSE-100 opened gap down, carrying Tuesday’s negative momentum, but managed to recover some ground and closed with loss of 281 points (0.69 per cent) at 40,663.

Significant investor interest and activity centered on Engro which was pushed out from the MSCI EM. The stock of the fertiliser-to-food giant was the volume leader on Wednesday as more shares were churned out after a quick lower lock on the stock in opening hours.

Major sellers of overall equity on Wednesday were again the jittery mutual funds that disposed of stocks worth $7.10 million. Foreign funds also cut down their positions with outflow of $5.06m, which some analysts ascribed to sell-off in Engro. Yet individuals scooped up stocks at lower valuations, which included Engro. As a result, the stock as a result bounced back to close down by 2.2pc.

Quick changes on the political landscape also commanded investor attention. “Meanwhile news of super tax imposition on banking sector resurfaced, denting investor sentiments and resultantly banks were down as well,” stated dealers at Topline Securities.

Traded volumes declined by 35pc over the previous day to 90m shares while value was up 16pc to Rs6.79bn. Major losses were seen in HBL down 1.6pc, followed by OGDC 2.4pc, Engro 2.2pc, MCB 2.4pc and PPL 1.1pc, which wiped off 227 points from the index. Gainers included Mari up 3.4pc, PAKT 5pc, COLG 4.9pc, SNGP 1.3pc and BAHL 0.9pc, overall adding 64 points

“The E&P sector continued its downward trajectory as international crude oil prices edged lower after the International Energy Agency casted doubts over the past few months’ narrative of tightening fuel markets. POL was down 1.43pc), PPL 1.62pc and OGDC 2.42pc lost value to close in the red zone,” said analysts at JS Global.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017