KARACHI: The three-day winning streak snapped on Monday when the stock market turned choppy to finally settle with loss of 84.85 points (0.22 per cent) at 38,345.42.

The market opened positive and continued its upward spiral to reach intraday high by 353 points. But in the last 45 minutes, market succumbed to intense selling pressure which wiped off all the gains, landing the index in the red.

A major market participant confided that not all investors were impressed by the rosy picture of economy painted by the finance minister on his visit to the bourse on Saturday.

His assurances of looking into overregulation of the market and reduction in capital gains tax were unable to tempt investors, who remained concerned over the falling reserves, further devaluation of the rupee and the ambiguity over the International Monetary Fund programme.

Investors were also spooked by reports that the Financial Action Task Force had expressed dissatisfaction over the country’s progress to comply with some of its condition and the unwelcome prospects of Pakistani stocks removal from MSCI Emerging Market Index in the upcoming semi-annual review. Finally, the commencement of rollover week for the future contracts exerted its usual pressure in the market.

The traded volume increa­sed 2pc to 235 million shares, while value traded fell by 1pc to Rs7.53 billion, representing much of the activity in the small-cap stocks. Sector-wise, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies and cement dragged the market down, collectively robbing the index of 151 points.

Among scrips, major decli­ners were Pakistan Petrol­eum, down 2.52pc, Engro Corporation 2.22pc, Pakistan Tobacco 5pc, Lucky Cement 2.17pc and Fauji Fertiliser 1.22pc, taking away 168 points. On the flip side, Habib Bank, up 1.49pc, Oil and Gas Development Company 0.87pc and Indus Motor Company 5pc added 65 points.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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