KARACHI: Stocks dropped slightly on the first day of the trading week with the KSE-100 index giving up 54.43 points (0.12 per cent) to close at 43,572.67.

Market opened positive and remained in the green for most part of the day taking the benchmark to intraday high by 318 points. But a few significant events pushed investors to off-load their positions and move to the sidelines.

The index succumbed to selling pressure as investors felt jittery over the sizable position in future contracts of Rs10.9 billion requiring settlement by end of this roll-over week. The uncertainty over the inclusion of Pakistan in FATF terrorist watchlist also dampened sentiments, forcing investors to take cautious stance regardless of the rise in international oil prices. The index dipped to intraday low by 115 points, before cherry-picking enabled it to gain lost ground.

The traded volume stood at 127 million, down 15pc over the previous session while the traded value dropped 12pc to Rs5.12bn, marking the second lowest level year-to-date in 2018. “Decent financial results of index names such as HUBC, FCCL, UBL and OGDC failed to boost investor sentiments,” said analysts at Topline Securities. Except for the pharmaceutical and oil and gas marketing companies, all key sectors closed the day lower.

The main decliners were Pakistan Tobacco Company, down 5pc, Pakistan Petroleum 0.9pc, Fauji Cement 3.2pc, United Bank 0.6pc and TRG Pakistan 2.9pc, withholding 81 points. On the flip side, Lucky Cement, up 1.9pc, Pakistan State Oil 1.8pc, Searle Company 2.4pc, Bank Al Habib 0.7pc and Kot Addu Power 2pc added 80 points to the index.

Arif Habib Securities stated that the market was expected to continue to face a lull period with low volumes and range-bound oscillation in the index. However, it offered a good opportunity for medium term investors to build positions.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2018