KARACHI: As hope gave way to despair, the stocks closed mostly in the red on Friday with the KSE-100 index retreating by 257.46 points (0.37 per cent) and settling at 42,323.30.

Building up on the massive rally on Thursday, the stock market opened on aggressive footing with the bulls pushing the index up to intraday high by 334 points, before profit-booking took hold of the market.

Whispers of a US airstrike at Baghdad airport that resulted in the killing of General Qassem Solei­mani, a commander of Al Quds, and the Iranian threat of a revenge, slowly spiralled into wide-spread selling at the market.

Stocks across the board started to fall like ninepins, except those on the exploration and production as news of flare up in the international oil prices kept investors hooked to major stocks on the sector that closed with gains.

Market watchers said the rally built up over the last few months was on the premise of macroeconomic stabilisation. But that was prone to exogenous shocks such as a major spike in international oil prices which could lead to higher inflation and result in delay of monetary easing.

Insurance companies were the major sellers of equity worth $2.09 million. But it was quickly absorbed by the individuals. The volume declined 22pc to 323m shares while the traded value fell 14pc to $94.8m.

Stocks that stood out as major laggards included Habib Bank, down 2.9pc, Engro Corporation 2.9pc, United Bank 1.5pc, Searle Company 2.4pc and Mari Petroleum 1.3pc.

Habib Bank was particularly volatile as it briefly hit its upper circuit before drifting down close to its lower circuit and closing with losses. On the flip side, Pakistan Oilfields reacted the most to hike in oil prices and gained 2.5pc, followed by Oil and Gas Development Company higher by 1.6pc while MCB rose by 1.2pc.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2020