KARACHI: The stock market was at the mercy of bears who went on a rampage on Thursday, knocking off 473.07 points (1.17 per cent) from the KSE-100 index to settle at 40,087.12.

That took the cumulative losses for last four trading sessions to 911 points. The market kicked off on a positive note and the index crawled up by 43 points but soon succumbed to selling pressure as flurry of sell orders lined up at the sales desk of brokers, sending the index to intraday low by 566 points.

Investors held their breath as the index skidded below the psychological barrier of 40,000 points for a brief moment to touch 39,994. Already jittery investors had more to endure as reports indicated that the International Monetary Fund had raised concerns that the government appeared complacent and was not moving swiftly to address macroeconomic imbalances.

The international lending arm of the World Bank had recommended further raising policy rate to 11pc (from 8.5pc at present) and devaluing currency by another 15pc in FY19.

The volume jumped 23pc to 110.2 million shares while traded value increased 24pc to Rs4.18 billion. Leaders included Fauji Foods, TRG Pakistan, Unity Foods, Sitara Peroxide and Pakistan International Bulk Terminal, reflecting 31pc of the total turnover.

Financial, cement and oil and gas marketing companies aggregately contributed a loss of 249 points to the index while fertilisers took away 47 points and exploration and production 42 points.

Major decliners were Habib Bank, down 2.23pc, MCB 1.53pc, Pakistan State Oil 2.43pc, Engro Corporation 1.25pc and Lucky Cement 1.52pc, scrapping off 147 points.

Topline Securities stated that the auto assemblers continued to face selling pressure due to continuation of ban on non-tax filers from buying motor vehicles in the new mini-budget. Commercial banks also saw extended losses.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2018