KARACHI: Stocks exten­ded the selling streak to the third day with the KSE-100 index drifting lower by 100.90 points to close at 33,438.95.

The trading was choppy with institutions playing on bo­th sides of the fence. Hence except the foreign investors who offloaded shares worth $0.79 million and individuals who carefully picked the second-tier scrips, other investors did not display enthusiasm in building fresh positions.

The market felt mounting pressure as the two-week sm­a­rt lockdown started in Kar­achi to thwart the exploding numbers of Covid-19 cases. The announcement of the BNP-M to quit the PTI-led alliance in the National Assembly and the efforts of the ruling coalition to bring it back into the fold put politics under the spotlight.

Due to alternative bouts of buying and selling mainly by institutional investors, the index oscillated between intr­a­day high and low by 160 and 170 points. Analysts at Arif Habib Ltd stated that the re-imposition of lockdown dim­med the prospects of quick economic stabilisation.

Also, expectation of a rate cut renewed in the early part of the session with the possibility of an emergent meeting at State Bank taking place anytime next week. International crude prices also crawled up but oil stocks barely moved. Some pressure was observed during the eleventh hour of trade which was attributed to FTSE quarterly rebalancing to take effect from Monday.

The volume plunged 51pc from earlier day to 105.9m sha­res while the traded value also declined by 49pc to reach $20m. Stocks that contributed significantly incl­uded K-Elec­tric, Unity Foods, Bank Alfa­l­ah and Baloc­histan Gla­ss, wh­i­ch formed 30pc of total turnover. Sector-wise performance rep­­r­esented exploration and pro­duction, higher by 39 poi­nts, banks 15 points while inv­e­stment banks fell 25 poi­nts, cement 24 points, fertiliser 21 points, oil and gas mar­keting companies 21 poi­nts and pha­r­ma 16 points. Amo­ng scrips, major laggards were Habib Bank, down 0.7pc, United Ba­nk 1.5pc, Fa­u­ji Fert­i­liser 0.2pc, Hub Power 0.5pc and Lucky Cement 1.3pc.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2020