KARACHI: Stocks exten­ded their losing streak for the fourth straight day as investors continued to fret over financial results which were either lower than expe­ctations in terms of profit or dividend. The immense pre­ssure of the roll-over week and further fall of the rupee against the dollar were also troubling incidents.

The KSE-100 index tumbled 227 points, or 0.5 per cent, and closed at 47,137 points. Intraday the index fell below the 47,000-level, but later it managed to claw back over the psychological support level. The intraday low and high was 374 and 124 points.

The overnight terror incident in Afghanistan dampened investor sentiments as they worried over the spillover effect on Pakistan and a blow to the trading ties that were just starting to build up. In the country, the Covid situation kept traders on their toes.

As unwary investors ditched stocks, selling pressure was seen across the board with fertilisers, textiles and exploration & production shares rolling down in that order. Other bearish sectors were banks and engineering. Cements continued to be mauled as most positives had replaced negative news flow.

Stocks that contributed negatively included Engro Corp (30 points), HBL (28 points), INIL (21 points), Service Industries (16 points) and OGDC (15 points). Stocks that contributed positively to the index included MEBL (61 points), System Ltd (27 points), Lucky Cement (12 points), Dolmen City (7 points) and Pakistan Tobacco (6 points).

Foreign investors took flight on Friday, selling off shares worth $2.20m. Individuals also decided to err on the side of caution and booked profit by offloading shares valued at $4.17m. Mutual Funds allocated $4.03m to equities available at attractive valuations. Companies also mopped up liquidity. Traded volumes increased 6pc over the previous day to 382.3m shares from 360.8m shares. Traded value also rose by 13pc to $ 80.3m from $ 70.8m a day ago. Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes were WTL, KEL, BYCO, YOUW and BOP, which formed 30pc of total volumes.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2021