KARACHI: Stocks fell freely on Monday for reasons that ranged from heated political atmosphere, concerns for a rudderless economy and worries associated with the settlement of future contracts.

After a positive opening that took the index up to intraday high by 79 points, it remained under pressure throughout the day. It finally closed with a loss of 527.47 points (1.29pc) at 40,316.93

Market participants said that a sizable position in future contracts amounting to Rs9.4bn required settlement by the end of this week. The volume was down 19pc to 94m shares over the previous session, while the traded value slumped 21pc to Rs4.34bn as investors lazily dabbled in low-priced third-tier stocks.

Investors decided to remain on the sidelines fearing an unsavoury end to the deadlock in the dialogue between the government and the protesters in the capital.

TRG and Dost Steels Ltd together contributed 20m shares to the day’s turnover. Foreigners hastened to pick value stocks worth $1.79m at dips.

Top gainers were Pak Tobacco, which went up 5pc, Philips Morris 5pc, CPPL 3pc, Soneri Bank 1.9pc and Thal Ltd 0.5pc while PSO was down 3.2pc, Nestle 5pc, Engro Corp 1.5pc, Mari Petroleum 2.8pc and Pak Oilfields 1.4pc, taking away 125 points.

In the banking sector, NBP lost 1.92pc, UBL 0.90pc and HBL 0.68pc. Elixir Securities noted: “Among the key sectors, only oils stood strong and supported the index but that too in the early hour; as the initial surge over weekend gains in global crude gave a good enough excuse for the investors to book profits resultantly OGDC down 0.85pc POL 1.43pc and PPL 0.41pc.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2017