KARACHI: Stocks continued to bleed for the second consecutive day with the KSE-100 index taking a nose dive by 829.42 points (2.65 per cent) and close at 30,520.60.

Start of the rollover week giving way to short-covering by short sellers; declining international oil prices; regional political situation with the PM Imran Khan scheduled to address the nation in the evening and unease over the Financial Action Task Force were some of the factors that pushed investors to resort to profit-taking after the last week’s massive gains.

The local bourse also came under pressure on Monday in line with the regional markets after the latest escalation in the US-China trade war renewed uncertainties about global economies.

The bears were in complete command as they trampled over the index pushing it to intra-day low by 939 points.

Foreign investors swooped to buy stocks worth $1.36 million and individuals who had led the previous week’s rally bought shares valued at $2.16m on Monday. However, they could not cover all the institutional selling in the lead of mutual funds that sold-off shares of $2.79m ostensibly to meet redemptions.

Volumes dropped by 47pc over the previous session to 122.1m shares while the traded value of stock also fell by 47pc to $24.1m.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes included Lotte Chemical, Bank of Punjab, Maple Leaf Cement Factory (MLCF), K-Electric and Pak Elektron, which formed 36pc of total turnover.

Selling pressure was observed across the board, with major outflows from exploration and production, cement, power and steel sectors.

In the E&Ps, Oil Gas Deve­lopment Company and Pakis­tan Petroleum Ltd hit their lower locks while Pakistan Oilfields Ltd fell 3.5pc.

In the cements, Lucky, MLCF, Cherat and D. G. Khan declined to settle near their lower circuit breakers. Engro Corporation lost 3.7pc dragging down the entire fertiliser sector. In the heavyweight banking sector, Habib Bank Ltd was down 1.8pc, MCB Bank 1.6pc and United Bank Ltd 1pc were the principal laggards.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2019