KARACHI: The stock market continued to cut a sorry figure on Friday with the KSE-100 index closing down by 131.86 points (0.30 per cent) at 43,363.21.

The market opened slightly positive but soon succumbed to intense selling pressure. Lack of triggers and low volume prompted investors to book profit. The much-awaited FTSE semi-annual rebalancing to take effect from Monday could not bring any respite to an otherwise lacklustre market.

Besides, the infighting between brokers relating to the formation of new board of directors and the opening up of 10-year old alleged share price manipulation cases by the Court, exposing renewed hostility between big brokers also scared investors who then decided to move to the sidelines.

The volume fell 12pc from the previous day to 193 million shares while the traded value increased 17pc to Rs9.06 billion, bulk of it coming through in the final trading hour. Major contribution to the volume came from Pak Elektron, Lotte Chemical and Nimir Resins Ltd, churning 43m shares of the total figure.

“Hubco transaction in the negotiated deal market was one of the highlights of the day in respect of which institutional investors anticipated positive impact,” said Arif Habib Ltd.

Sectors exerting downward pressure on the index included cement, decreasing by 46 points, commercial banks 37 points, fertiliser 27 points, auto 24 points and tobacco 10 points.

MCB Bank, down 0.2pc, Engro Corporation 1.4pc, Lucky Cement 1.2pc, Millat Tractors 3.3pc and United Bank 1.pc dragged the index down by 87 points while Pakistan Oilfields, up 0.6pc and Oil and Gas Develo­pment Company 0.7pc were the major gainers.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018