KARACHI: The stocks Monday started keeping the last week’s bearish trend as the Karachi Stock Exchange shed 214.18 points to drop to 32562.86 points level in early trading.
Last week, the volatility persisted at Karachi stock market with the KSE 100-index closing down 0.8 per cent amidst speculation surrounding the US Fed interest rate decision and persistent foreign selling.
Overall participation also remained lackluster with average traded volumes posting a decline of 23 per cent as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines, while foreigners returned net sellers worth $10.2m. Major index heavyweight gainers during the week were oil & gas (+3.1 per cent WoW) and construction and materials (+0.8 per cent WoW) sectors.
On the other hand, banks (-1.7 per cent WoW) remained the major laggards owing to negative news flow pertaining to index heavyweights Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). Experts said that the local bourse ended the week on a negative note as the benchmark KSE-100 fell 0.8 percent and closed below the 33,000 level. Investors remained jittery due to weakness in global oil prices and the Fed’s interest rate increase. Average daily volumes declined 23 per cent to 139.1m shares, and average daily value declined 3 per cent to Rs8.7 billion/$82.8 billion.
