KARACHI: The recovery at the stock market seen on Monday, proved shortlived as the KSE-100 index returned to the negative trajectory dragged down by 239.58 points (0.62 per cent) and closed at 38,612.37.

At the end of trading, the index had shed nearly half of the gains posted the previous day. Investor sentiments weakened as the finance minister talked about “calibrate moderation” of economy and the State Bank governor hinted at initial slowdown in the economy before getting better.

Investors thus discounted the news flow of International Monetary Fund team’s visit next month to finalise the bailout package. Other disconcerting issues included rising political noise, uncertainty over rupee parity and fear of further hike in power tariff.

The market opened with gains of 61 points and building up on Monday’s momentum, it hit the intraday high by 234 points. But the buying did not last long and the index succumbed to profit taking as investors’ interest waned, represented by trading volume of just 71m shares – down 28pc from the earlier day’s 100m shares. Figures released by the National Clearing Company showed foreign outflows on Tuesday at a minor $0.16 million.

Traded value declined by 29pc to $22.7m and volume leaders were all small cap stocks. Big banks including United, Habib and National Bank were major contributors to the decline with the sector taking away 63 points, followed by cement 60 points with prominent scrips such as Lucky, DG Khan, Maple Leaf and Pioneer Cement ending in the red. Power sector also scrapped 50 points from the index.

Scrip-wise, major contribution to the index decline came from Hub Power, down 4.06pc, Lucky Cement 2.12pc, Habib Bank 1.19pc, United Bank 1.61pc and Bank Al Habib 0.91pc, scrapping away 152 points from the index. On the flip side, Philip Morris Pakistan, up 4.88pc, added 12 points.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2019