KARACHI: Stocks sank deeper into the red as the losing streak extended to fifth day with the KSE-100 index taking a dip of 517.53 points (1.43 per cent) to close at 3-year low at 35,605.42.

Investors’ risk appetite vanished and panic mounted as the date of closing the deal with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout draws closer. The market is entirely in the dark on the economic conditions visualised by IMF and its conditions for extending the dollars.

Most traders dumped stocks as rumours made rounds of a possible further policy rate hike by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) before the month is out; rupee depreciation and a giant leap in energy tariff, all of which could impact the corporate earnings.

More worries stemmed from the upcoming MSCI review on May 13 and the fear of a tough budget FY20. The unforeseen change at the head of SBP and the Federal Board of Revenue created more anguish in the minds of investors as uncertainty over the future direction of the economy grew.

Traded volume continued to be anaemic though rising 11pc from the previous session to 71 million shares while value edged higher by 8pc to reach $22.4m. Stocks that contributed significantly included Maple Leaf Cement, Bank of Punjab, Unity Foods, Fauji Cement and United Bank, which formed 31pc of total volume.

The future volume rose by 60pc to 32.9m shares from 20.6m shares in the last trading session.

Sector-wise, exploration and production brought to bear the heaviest pressure on index with a decline of 117 points, followed by banks down 99 points and cements yielding 72 points.

Among scrips, major contribution to the index downside came from Pakistan Petroleum, lower by 3.01pc, Lucky Cement 4.17pc, Engro Corporation 2.18pc, United Bank 2.45pc and Hub Power 2.27pc, taking away 213 points. On the flip side, Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan, up 4.95pc, Bank Alfalah 1.14pc and Agriautos Industries 4.99pc added 24 points.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2019