KARACHI: Stocks tumbled on Wednesday with the market ceding some of the gains accumulated in the strong rally a day earlier. The KSE-100 index fell 158.36 points (0.35 per cent) to close at 45,718.34.

At the start of trading, the index extended Tuesday’s gains and touched intraday high by 65 points. But as the day progressed, risk-averse investors were unwilling to build fresh positions in the rollover weak, which drove them to the sidelines.

Investors also refused to be thrilled by comparatively healthy results from Dawood Hercules, MCB Bank, Fauji Fertiliser and Pak Elektron. The rout in the cement and banking sectors in late hours pulled the index down by intraday low of 195 points.

On the economic front, tax amnesty scheme was approved by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. Also the World Bank stated in a report that Pakistan’s remittances remained about flat in 2017 largely due to significant decline in inflows from Saudi Arabia (the largest remittance source) with the bank predicting continuation of the trend in 2018.

The volume improved by 17pc over the previous day to 181 million shares while the traded value was down 5pc to Rs8.77 billion. Leaders were Engro Polymer and Chemical, Pak Elektron, Unity Foods, Bank of Punjab and Fauji Fertiliser contributed 41pc to the day’s turnover. Foreign investors sold net equity worth $1.2m.

Cement sector remained the biggest laggard wiping off 51points from the index on rumours of cut in cement prices per bag. Exploration and production sector also dipped by 29 points as international oil prices slipped. Others contributing to the downside included banks, lower by 54 points and paper and board 18 points. On the flip side, pharmaceutical sector added 18 points to the index.

Major decliners were Habib Bank, down 0.80pc, Packages Ltd 4.98pc, Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan 4.93pc, Bank Alfalah 2.5pc and DG Khan Cement 2.23pc, taking away 88 points.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018