KARACHI: After a heavy sell-off on Monday that saw the KSE-100 index concede 3.75 per cent, stock market investors weighed the risks and potential rewards on Tuesday.

The risks emanated from the political headwinds while the possible upsurge in fundamentally strong scrips available at low valuations attracted investors.

Trading was thus volatile with the benchmark index oscillating between the intraday high of 841 points and low of -572 points.

In the final hours, investors opted for fundamentals, which spurred the index by 399.24 points or 0.84pc to close at 48,071.04.

As investors got over their fears and returned to the market, the trading volume swelled 45pc over the earlier day to 317 million shares. The value jumped 61pc to Rs15bn, though investors remained focused mainly on second- and third-tier stocks. Engro Polymer and Chemicals, Aisha Steel Mills and TRG Pakistan contributed 54m shares to the total volume.

Analysts at Intermarket Securities observed that the major contribution to the upside came from Habib Bank, which rose 4.77pc, Lucky Cement 3.63pc, United Bank 3.49pc, Dawood Hercules 2.87pc and Engro Corp 0.87pc, which collectively added 355 points to the index.

TRG Pakistan lost 3.62pc, Pakistan Oilfields 1.43pc and Thal Ltd 3.22pc, taking away 45 points from the index. Telecommunication services were up 2.63pc, financials 2.39pc and real estate 1.14pc.

Dealers pointed out that Engro Polymer and Chem­icals hit its upper limit as the National Tariff Commission notified provisional anti-dumping duties on PVC imported from region-specific manufacturers.

Heavyweights in the banking sector cumulatively contributed 235 points to the index.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2017