KARACHI
Political noise in the country and unchanged interest rates forced the investors to book profits on Monday. As a result, the benchmark KSE 100-share index declined by 401.32 points (down 1.18%) to close at 33,566.22 points.
Volatility prevailed in yesterday’s session as the market took a nosedive after making an intra-day high of 187 points to close in red zone, brokers said.
Major reason for negative sentiments at the bourse was fall in global crude oil prices and increasing noise on the domestic political front. Major laggards in the oil sector were PSO, down 2.01%, and ATRL that declined 2.02%. Moreover, profit-taking was witnessed in the cement sector with all major scrips closing in the red. Auto sector also witnessed pressure due to strengthening of the Japanese Yen, observed analyst Ahmed Saeed Khan.
Volume increased by 14% to 224m shares while value increased by 30% to Rs 10.2b/$98m.
Sharp fall was witnessed in leveraged stocks across the board, ending bullish rallies amid foreign outflows and recovery in global equities, stated analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
Institutional support remained in oil exploration sector after global crude prices recovery. Renewed concerns for political uncertainty and weak economic outlook played a catalyst role in the bearish close at PSX.
Despite rally in international oil prices, local oil exploration stocks fell due to prevailing weak sentiment. OGDC and POL fell by 0.2% and 0.13% respectively.
SSGC announced FY 15 above expected loss of 6.16 Rs/share. Stock declined by 4.7%, dealers said.