KARACHI: Stocks resu­med downward journey after one-day hiatus with the KSE-100 index sinking323 points (0.71 per cent) to settle at 45,479 on Wednesday.

The market started off positive extending Tuesd­ay’s gains to reach intraday high by 202 points. But later in the session, the index was weighed down by extensive selling in banks, oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) and cement sectors which saw it plunge to intraday low by 378 points.

Investors were baffled by bad news including the uncertainties relating to the 2018-19 budget, rumours of upcoming weak quarterly results from the banking and cement sectors, talks of more foreign selling in the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) stock and an apparent failure of the amnesty scheme.

On the political side, four parties threatening to launch a movement for the supremacy of parliament gave the impression of another wave of uncertainty ahead. All of that triggered heavy sell-off by nervous individuals while institutions generally decided to remain on the sidelines.

The trading volume rose 6pc over the previous day to 156 million shares while the traded value was up 11pc to Rs8.3 billion. Banking sector was a major drag on the market eroding 140 points, followed by E&P taking away 49 points, cement 46 points, and oil and gas marketing companies 22 points.

Among the leading losers, Habib Bank was down 3.2pc, OGDC 0.5pc, Pakistan Petroleum 0.8pc, United Bank 0.2pc, Engro Corpo­ration 1.1pc, Lucky Cement 1.3pc, MCB Bank 1pc and Pakistan Oilfields 1pc, cumulatively scrapping 206 points from the index. On the flip side, Abbott Laboriousness Pakistan, up 3.9pc, Dawood Hercules 1.2pc, Engro Fertiliser 1.2pc, Bank Alfalah 1.6pc and Attock Petroleum 2.3pc added 49 points.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2018