KARACHI: Stocks ended lower on Monday amid the deteriorating security situation in the country’s financial capital but dealers said that the market is likely to rise in the coming days due to consistent foreign buying.

The KSE 100-share index ended 0.32 per cent, or 58.42 points, lower to close at 18,126.77 points. It traded in a broad range as it made an intra-day high at 18,211.16 points and an intra day low at 18,097.14 points.

Turnover, however, fell by almost half to 194.3 million shares, compared with 399m shares traded on Friday.

“Due to prevailing situation in the city local stock market posted lesser activity as volumes remained below 200m shares. Some profit taking was seen in the oil and gas exploration stocks due to decline in international crude oil prices,” said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd.

The atmosphere turned tense after mourners buried some of the victims of the previous day’s bombing that killed 48 people in Karachi.

Trading value also decreased by over Rs5 billion to Rs4.79 billion from Rs10.16bn in the previous trading session and market capitalisation fell to Rs4.49 trillion from Friday’s 4.51tr.

Dealers said investors booked profits in energy stocks as Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd shed Rs1.07 to Rs206.20, Pakistan Oilfields ended 25 paisa lower at Rs478.88 and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd shed Rs2.37 to Rs178.63.

The mood was such from the onset as the announcement of impressive EPS (earning per share) of Rs3.38 and a dividend of 20 per cent per share by Bank Alfalah in the pre-open session failed to enthuse the crowd.

This 30 per cent increase in earnings is unlikely to be ignored for long and we expect that, with improvement in sentiment, the interest is likely to increase. The KSE 100-index at current level is suggestive that investors in general see rewards rather than risk in holding their positions, said Arif Habib Equity Sales in a note.

Foreign investors remained net buyers as they bought shares worth a net $2.12 million on Monday, compared with buying a net $5.93m on Friday, bringing the total net buying for the month at $8.05m. In February, foreign investors had a net buying of $28.9m.

Mutual Funds were the biggest sellers with equity worth $1.8m.The biggest gainers were led by Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan which ended Rs18.74 higher to close at Rs393.58, followed by Sunrays Textile, which closed Rs10.7 higher at Rs224.7. Sapphire Textile witnessed the biggest loss as it shed Rs11.87 to Rs230.5, followed by Pak Gum and Chemical, which ended Rs8.67 lower at Rs164.78.

The KSE-30 index ended 0.51pc, or 75.31 points, lower at 14,790.54.

Out of the 338 companies traded, the value of 133 increased, 179 decreased while 26 remained unchanged.

The second and third tier shares once again dominated the 10 most active traded stocks: Lotte PakPTA was the volume leader as it gained 45 paisa to Rs7.69 on turnover of 30.13m shares, Fauji Cement Ltd fell by 14 paisa to Rs8.4 on 17.02m shares and PIAC(A) shed 32 paisa to Rs6.77 on 15m shares.

Telecard Ltd ended 14 paisa lower at Rs6.83 on 8.74m shares, Maple Leaf Cement decreased by 58 paisa to Rs16.92 on 7.5m shares but Jahangir Siddiqui Co Ltd rose 7 paisa to Rs17.61 on 7.23m shares.

Bank Alfalah gained 25 paisa to Rs18.77 on 6.84m shares, TRG Pakistan Ltd increased by 34 paisa to Rs6.93 on 6.6m shares and Quice Food closed Re1 higher at Rs8.71 on 6.53m shares.

Engro Corp ended 60 paisa higher at Rs123.13 on 6.13m shares.