KARACHI: Stock market extended its decline into the second day on Tuesday with the KSE-100 index closing down by 103.89 points (0.22 per cent) at 46,476.73.

The anxiety over the outcome of the amnesty scheme at the parliament, trade deficit widening to $27.3bn in 9MFY18, higher by 17.3pc year-on-year and the pre-budget jitters kept investors on the sidelines. Besides, market watchers believed that without fresh triggers, the index may see further fall to reflect correction in slightly overvalued shares following the eight-day rally.

The index started out on a positive footing, which saw it accumulate intraday gains of 99 points. But the enthusiasm proved short-lived as investors decided to book profit in the heavyweight banking and cement sectors with widespread losses being seen in both segments. After hitting the intraday low by 173 points, the index bounced back a little but still closed in the red. The redeeming feature again was the net buying by foreigners of equities worth $1.7 million with net inflow of $4m in two days.

The traded volume increased 8pc over the earlier day to 220m shares while the traded value decreased 5pc to Rs7.9bn. Trading was mostly concentrated in small-cap stocks. Exploration and production sector garnered investors’ interest as international oil prices bounced back after ease in concerns over US-China trade war. The sector added 60 points to the index with heavyweight stocks Pakistan Petroleum Limited higher by 2.1pc and Pakistan Oilfields recovering 0.82pc.

The five major decliners were Bank Al Habib, down 4.2pc, Habib Bank 0.8pc, MCB Bank 1pc Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan 5pc and United Bank 0.6pc, withholding 121 points from the index whereas Pakistan Petroleum, up 1.9pc, Pakistan Oilfields 0.8pc, Attock Refinery 4pc, Fauji Fertiliser 0.6pc and Pak Suzuki Motors 3.4pc added 80 points to the gain.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2018