KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange lost its upward momentum on the first business day after Eid holidays and plummeted 666 points, highest blow in 9 months, as political uncertainty spread its tentacles across Pakistan.
Panic gripped the market as KSE 100-share index dropped 666.24 points or 2.20 percent to close the day at 29647.83 points below the psychological barrier of 30,000. Fear of political uncertainty due to upcoming PTI march on August 14 forced the individuals and mutual funds to safe exit.
KSE-Allshare index lost 454.56 points or 2.04 percent, KSE-30 index misplaced by 454.78 points or 2.16 percent while KMI-30 index plunged fell by 1214.59 points or 2.48 percent to finish the trading at 47768.29 points.
Experts said that concerns for current account deficit, deteriorating geo-political situation, unchanged SBP policy rate, uncertainty in global stocks, limited foreign interest and institutional consolidation in overbought stocks after earning announcements caused bearish trend in the first trading session after Eid.
Another analyst believed that if PML-N failed to handle the long march issue smoothly, the market will recover further fall by 500 points.
Trading took place in 362 companies where 310 closed in negative and 390 in positive while the value of 13 stocks remained intact. Rafhan Maize was the biggest price gainer while Wyeth Pak Ltd and Colgate Palmolive were the biggest price losers of the day. Significant turnover was recorded in the stocks of Lafarge Pakistan, Fauji Cement, Lotte Chemical, Maple Leaf Cement, Byco Petroleum, Bank Alfalah, TRG Pakistan Ltd, Askari Bank, Bank of Punjab and K-Electric Ltd.
Lafarge Pakistan remained the volume leader with 43.84 million shares followed by Fauji Cement with 12.49 million shares.
