KARACHI: The stocks on the KSE further weakened on Tuesday as the KSE-100 index was dragged down by 275.75 points or 0.97pc to 28,243.59.

The market opened on a positive note with early intra-day gains of 96 points. However, investors were shaky with no settlement of the political crisis in sight. It pushed investors to take profit near the day’s peak.

Also read: Stocks fall like ninepins on political uncertainty

As worries intensified and investor sentiments dampened, the index dipped to intra-day low by 307 points, but managed to claw up slightly before the close of the market. The foreign investors sold $0.87m worth stocks on Tuesday.

Brokerage Sunrise Capital stated that investors both local and foreign were watching and waiting for the market to take some more dip.

“Most importantly trading activities were witnessed in oil and gas sector which saw volume of 6.3m shares followed by chemical sector with volume of 7.3m shares,” said analysts.

The two heavyweight stocks OGDCL lost another Rs2.82 and MCB Bank fell by Rs1.95 on Tuesday, the two shares accounting for around 75 points to the day’s index decline.

Analyst Mujtaba Barakzai at JS Global commented that KSE-100 index remained under pressure with political uncertainty keeping investors on the sidelines.

Selling pressure was witnessed across the board. Market lost further ground during the last hour of trading as the political turmoil intensified. Investors preferred dividend plays.

FFC rallied 1.8pc on rumours of company management buying shares.

Samar Iqbal, AVP Equity Sales at Topline Securities, believed that FFC rallied due to institutional support.

Research desk at the brokerage KASB Securities thought that volatility could increase due to lower volumes. “The index could now trade in this range of 28,050-29,200; with volatility expected to be high due to very low volumes.”

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that panic-selling continued as rupee nosedived on political deadlock and massive currency speculation. Dismal current account data, expected fall in remittances due to ongoing political crisis and reluctance from foreign investors played a catalyst role in bearish activity at KSE.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2014