KARACHI: Stocks fell for the third straight day as the KSE-100 index plunged 323 points, or 0.67 per cent, in intensified sell-off on Thursday to settle at 48,157.63.

The rejoicing over the pro-market budget died down after the gain of 421 points on the first trading day. More pressing issues forced investors to opt for profit-taking and the index in three days lost 569 points, or 1.18pc.

The major worry on the investors’ mind was the possible outcome of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting scheduled from June 21-25 at which Pakistan’s progress on the implementation of the action plans on remaining points would be considered, which would pave the way for the country to walk out of the grey list. “Since politics will play a pivotal role in decision-making, investors are uneasy,” said a floor broker.

While the flattening curve in positive cases of Covid-19 brought a great amount of relief, the market sentiments were dampened by the wrangling between the government and the opposition in the ongoing budget session in the National Assembly that had the trappings of delay in the smooth passage of the Finance Bill 2021. Investor participation also dropped as seen in the traded volumes at 937m shares on Thursday, down 19pc over the previous day since Friday is the last day before the start of the roll-over week.

Unlike the previous days, trading started on a bearish note and the index sank to intraday low by 365 points. Mid-day bulls made a futile attempt to take over by increase in prices of some heavyweight stocks that lifted the index to intraday high by 64 points.

Sector-wise, banks, refineries, O&GMCs, cement, engineering, fertiliser and technology came under the hammer. Stocks that contributed negatively led by Hubco (31 points), TRG (28 points), HBL (26 points), Unity Foods (24 points) and PSEL (15 points).

Among participants’ mutual funds and foreign investors cherry-picked equities while individuals liquidated their positions.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2021