KSE-100 records highest single-day drop by 3,790 points

KARACHI: Bears continued to dominate the stock market for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, pushing the benchmark KSE-100 index to witness the highest-ever decline of 3,790 points amid institutional profit-taking ahead of the year-end.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index plunged by 3.3 per cent to 111,070.29 points against 114,860.69 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 116,236.71 points while the lowest level was recorded at 110,896.27 points.

Ali Najib, head of sales at Insight Securities, said market vibes suggested that institutional-led profit-taking before year end could be accredited to this bearish trend, which the KSE-100 index is currently experiencing.

“But this should be treated as an opportunity to value hunt in the blue-chip stocks having strong fundamentals and offering better dividend yields relative to 1-year T-bills papers,” he said.The KSE-30 index decreased by 1,286.99 points or 3.56 per cent to 34,909.04 points against 36,196.02 points.

Traded shares decreased by 141 million shares to 1,111.921 million shares from 1,252.98 million shares. The trading value dropped to Rs60.242 billion from Rs62.722 billion. Market capital narrowed to Rs14.145 trillion against Rs14.583 trillion. Of the 472 companies active in the session, 89 closed in green, 349 in red and 34 remained unchanged.

Naveed Nadeem, an analyst at Topline Securities, said that the benchmark index witnessed a substantial decline. It concluded the session at 111,070 points, reflecting a decrease of 3,790 points, or 3.3 per cent.

“Local mutual funds, having been net buyers for the past 14 consecutive trading sessions, shifted to net sellers yesterday. Market sentiment suggests that they continued this selling trend today as well,” he said.

The primary drivers of the downward movement were MARI, FFC, HUBC, PPL and MEBL, which collectively accounted for an alarming 1,731 points of the index’s overall decline.The highest increase was recorded in Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited, which rose by Rs51.29 to Rs564.23 per share, followed by Indus Motor Company Limited, which increased by Rs43.66 to Rs2,058.57 per share. A significant decline was noted in Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited, which fell by Rs107.16 to Rs20,892.86 per share; Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited followed it, which closed lower by Rs98.02 to Rs8,902 per share.

Ahsan Mehanti, an analyst at Arif Habib Corp, said, “Stocks closed record bearish amid slump in global equities and foreign outflows.”He said that the weak rupee, political noise, concerns over unmet IMF targets on taxes and reforms under the EFF played a catalyst role in the bearish activity.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 139.290 million shares which closed lower by 17 paisas to Rs1.71 per share. Cnergyico PK with 67.462 million shares followed it, which closed lower by 54 paisas to Rs6.54 per share.

Other significant turnover stocks included B.O. Punjab, Pak Refinery, K-Electric Ltd., Sui South Gas, Aisha Steel Mill, Fauji Foods Ltd and Hub Power Co. In the futures market, 303 companies recorded trading, 30 of which increased, 272 decreased, and one remained unchanged.