KARACHI: The stock market saw another day of massive bleeding as the KSE-100 index after a positive jump-start went into a free-fall by 487 points (1.60 per cent) and closed below the 30,000 level at 29,672.

Stocks came under selling pressure as Friday was the last day of the futures rollover week. There was no positive news to support the market and the bearish pressure continued in the exploration and production sector following the appointment of financial adviser by the Privatization Commis­sion for the sale of shares in Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pak­istan Petroleum Ltd (PPL).

Besides, fertiliser sector also came under profit taking as the resolution of the Gas Infrastructure Deve­lopment Cess lost its charm.

The concerns over Kashmir and the Financial Action Task Force evaluations were heightened by the fear of a mini-budget which nervous investors saw as a possibility in case the revenue targets were missed.

However, mid-day the market received some ­support from the Standards & Poor’s after it affirmed Pakistan’s Rating at B-/B: Outlook stable.

The selling activity was mainly seen in the oil and gas marketing companies, E&P, fertiliser and the cement sectors. E&Ps stood out as major laggards as the worries about a slowdown in the global economic growth and the impact on oil demand due to the trade war between the world’s two biggest kept the oil under pressure OGDC, PPL and Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (POL) closed in the negative zone.

In the fertiliser, Engro Corporation (ENGRO) and Fauji Fertiliser Company (FFC) came under the hammer. Mixed sentiments were seen in the banking sector where MCB Bank Ltd (MCB) saw some respite closing positive whereas Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) and United Bank Ltd (UBL) closed in the red.

Among participants, banks bought heavily in the sum of $4.02 million and foreign investors also took fresh positions in stocks worth $1.89m, while the mutual funds sold off equity worth $1.24m.

Among scrips, losses were most profound in OGDC which was down 3.82, Hub Power Company down 3.92, ENGRO 2.83, PPL 3.94, FFC 2.77, UBL 2.47, Pakistan State Oil 4.24, HBL -1.06, Bank Al Habib Ltd 1.57 and POL 1.50.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2019