KARACHI: The stock market extended losses for the third consecutive day on investors’ worries over a prolonged economic slowdown, expectations of further monetary tightening after the approval of $6bn package from International Monetary Fund and charged political atmosphere.

All of that led to further pressure on share prices as the KSE-100 index plunged 447 points (1.3 per cent) to close at 29-session low of 33,742.

Investor concerns deepened over the release of Rs200 billion Sukuk for oil and gas marketing companies. As the power sector saw major impact, aggressive selling was observed in Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, Pakistan State Oil and Hub Power Company.

The market started on a positive note and rose to intraday high by 40 points. But the index soon succumbed to selling pressure, hitting the intraday low by 504 points. Foreign investors bought equity worth $0.60 million and individuals also entered into long-term value buying of $1.39m.

However, companies and mutual funds were the major sellers of stocks worth $5.52m and $2.14m.

The volume was anaemic at 59.5m shares while traded value increased by 26pc to $15m as against $11.9m. Stocks that contributed significantly included K-Electric, Maple Leaf, TRG Pakistan, Bank of Punjab and DG Khan Cement, which formed 37pc of total volume.

Sectors contributing to the poor performance included banks, decreasing by 120 points, exploration and production 77 points, oil and gas marketing companies 556 points and power 37 points.

Cement sector remained under the hammer and lost 30 points while financial closed in the red as well. Auto Assemblers, Honda Atlas, Pak Suzuki and Indus Motor also shed values on reports of loss of production.

Scrip-wise, major decliners were Habib Bank, lower by 53 points, Pakistan Petroleum 38 points, Oil and Gas Development Company 26 points, Pakistan State Oil 25 points and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines 21 points. However, 57 stocks managed to close positive including Fauji Fertiliser, Thal Ltd and Attock Petroleum with two points each and Mari Petroleum one point.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2019