KARACHI- The Karachi Stock Exchange-100 Index on Wednesday lost another 104.10 points on account of current political turmoil that reached its climax amid police raids and arrests of political workers and leaders belonging to anti-PPP parties. KSE-100 Index closed at 5557.92 after touching the low level of 5552.90 and a high of 5718.85 points. Out of total 369 active symbols at KSE, only 57 gained value, as many as 296 lost while the worth of the shares of 16 companies remained unchanged. Total trading value of the KSE amounted to 2.095 billion rupees as compared to the previous figure of 1.399 billion on Monday. The volume of KSE-100 Index improved to 62.533 million shares on Wednesday in contrast with the previous value of 48.058m shares traded on Monday as the prices of the blue chips kept on fluctuating throughout the day. Banking sector showed significant improvement in terms of shares trading. NIB bank was the volume leader of the day with trading of 4.577 million shares. Among other well-traded shares were Jahangir Siddiqui 4.334 million shares, United Bank 3.431 million shares, National Bank 3.395 million shares, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (SPOT) 2.824 million shares, Adamjee Insurance 2.751 million shares, OGDC 2.679 million shares namely. The major gainers at the KSE were Gatron Industries and it gained 3.70 rupees per share and its total value improved to Rs 77.84 with the trading of only 200 shares, United Bank gained 1.82 rupees and closed at Rs44.49, Millat Tractors (SPOT) gained 1.51 rupees/share and its value increased to Rs195, Artistic Denim gained 1.04 rupees per share and closed at Rs22.07, Adamjee Insurance gained 0.45 rupees/share and its value remained Rs52.56. Attock Petroleum lost 12.09 rupees per share and its value declined to Rs235.24, National Refinery lost 5.29 rupees/share and closed at Rs113.23, PSO lost 4.55 rupees and remained at 137.69, Attock Refinery lost 3.75 rupees totalling its value to Rs71.36. Clearly the increasing uncertainty on political front has pushed the market participants in the spectators gallery, the fact that market has been able to avoid nose dives that provided the stake holders a confidence to hold on to their holdings. Assured support by the state fund and positive picture, painted by the seasoned players regarding the health of the economy in upcoming months, allowed some trading activities on dips, downtick did invite offloading, volumes of which initially were digestible, desperation towards the end painted the board red. The banking sector led the show since the main banking stocks still awaiting results. The view that since the local bourses have maintained current levels (5500-5700) despite all the odds, do not necessarily display strength, if selling initiates in these circumstances, where sentiment is negative and with the buying side being shallow, chances of major price erosion are high. Sentiment needs to be built and stage is to be set before offloading, since market is not reacting to obvious, same will be the movement in event of positive news. Capitalising on abnormal movement, mainly on gains, in event of positive development will certainly provide opportunity to reduce cost, local bourses will react aggressively on diffusion of political uncertainty (if it happens), since interest is limited, chasing the price should be avoided, while gains of 10 percent or more in the bench mark can be looked for profit taking. Until the issues stay in picture, it will be generally a test of nerves, with major reliance on the support fund.