Baqar HussainKARACHI: Stocks took a dive on Monday as heavyweight oil and gas sector shares went down. The KSE-100 index tumbled 290.69 points (0.88 per cent) to close at 32,757.82.
Market participants said that the main reason for the stocks battering was the fall in Brent and WTI prices near 11-year low, which hammered the stocks across the regional markets.
Foreigners continued to take profit with sale of $0.58 million worth stocks, taking the year-to-date portfolio outflow at $300.45m. Mutual funds also sold $2.23m worth stocks.
Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum (PPL) fell 2.9pc and 3.9pc, respectively.
“News of a weakening yuan amid the upcoming Fed decision regarding interest rates added to the day’s pressure,” commented dealers at Global Securities.
Autos and banks also came under selling pressure due to profit-taking amid deteriorating market sentiments.
Further fall in index was prevented by MARI (up 5pc), HBL (0.69pc), JDWS (4.68pc) and POL (1.27pc).
Volume declined by 24pc to 144.5m shares while value decreased 7pc to Rs7.3 billion from the previous session. SSGC led the volume leaders list, followed by BOP and TRG.
Dealers on the sales desk at brokerage Topline Securities observed that the reports of expected increase in gas prices by the government shook investor confidence in cement and fertiliser stocks.
As a result, LUCK declined 1.2pc, while FFBL and FFC were down 0.4pc and 0.8pc, respectively. SSGC and SNGP, down by 4.7pc and 4.4pc respectively, remained under pressure as investors expected further delay in the financial results of both companies.
Syed Zaki Hussain
