KARACHI: Bloodbath on the stock market for the fourth straight day saw the KSE-100 index tumble 721.23 points (1.70 per cent) to close at 41,637.38 on Friday.

The benchmark index sank to its near-term low of 41,458 points reached on May 18. Over the week the index lost 2,043 points (4.68pc). Despite so much blood spilled on the street, investors were too frightened to consider it a time to buy.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said that panic gripped the investors amid foreign outflows after Moody’s downgrade on Pakistan outlook and the rupee weakening against dollar. Speculations ahead of FATF decision next week on Pakistan action plan to avoid grey list also poured cold water over investor sentiments.

Stocks which drew the investors’ ire included MCB Bank, BAFL, ISL, DGKC, PAEL, Lotte Chemical and last hour sealed the fate of the market for the week. The index went into a free-fall in the last hour as buyers started panic selling, observing the continued onslaught of the bears with weekend holidays ahead.

“Repo activity continued for the third day and resulted in high volumes, but is unlikely to continue in the coming sessions, which will bring down the volumes,” stated Arif Habib Ltd.

The turnover declined 26pc over the earlier day to 178m shares. Stocks that contributed significantly to the turnover include KE, BOP, Lotte Chemical, SMBL and PAEL, reflecting 37pc of the total volume.

Sectors that dragged the market down included E&P (151 points), banks (148 points), cement (77 points), power (77 points) and fertiliser (68 points).

Intermarket Securities stated that the major drag to the KSE-100 index came amid panic-selling in PAKT down 5pc, EFoods 3.51pc, MTL 2.77pc, TRG 4.98pc, Hub Power 3.46pc, SNGP 2.25pc, KE 3.27pc, PPL 2.55pc, OGDC 1.95pc, POL 2.19pc, PSO 2.78pc, MARI 1.86pc and ABOT 3.07pc.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2018