KARACHI: Bulls were chased out of the equity market on Tuesday as the KSE-100 index witnessed a heavy fall of 417 points (1.09 per cent) and closed at 37,795.

The market opened strong in early hours and climbed to intraday high by 356 points. But the index succumbed to selling pressure as the day progressed.

Foreign investors sold shares of a staggering sum of $7.97 million which dragged down the entire market. The sell-off emanated from passive funds as the MSCI semi-annual review went into effect from Tuesday.

In its review of Nov 9, the index provider had deleted three Pakistan stocks, namely DG Khan Cement, Kot Addu and Thall Ltd from global small caps.

Foreigners sought exit, mainly from DG Khan Cement which saw volume of 20m shares and a drop of 2.6pc in stock price.

Local participants were resilient as in the lead of individuals and mutual funds they absorbed much of the foreign sell-off. The continued interest by locals was also seen by the phenomenal rise in volume which jumped to 489m shares, representing 30-month high and up 102pc from a day ago. Traded value also surged 110pc to Rs18.4 billion — a12-month peak.

The other major event was the Supreme Court suspending a government order granting three-year term extension to current army chief.

“The KSE-100 index witnessed free fall of 937points within a span of 18 minutes,” said Intermarket Securities. Intraday attempts at recovery failed to prop up the maket which closed deep in red.

Sector-wise, cements, banking and exploration and production witnessed heavy sell-off. Among scrips, the major losers were Oil and Gas Development Company, lower 3.19pc, Pakistan State Oil 3.94pc, Pakistan Petroleum 1.37pc, MCB 2.49pc, National Bank 3.52pc, Lucky Cement 2.59pc, Fauji Fertiliser 0.85pc, DG Khan Cement 3.45pc, Engro Fertiliser 1.25pc, Hub Power 3.91pc, Nishat Mills 4.77pc and Kot Addu Power 4.06pc.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2019