KARACHI: Stocks fell for the third consecutive day with the KSE-100 index losing 273 points, or 0.57 per cent, to close at 47,363. It wiped out around 749 points from the hefty gains of 1,199 points made in a winning streak until early this week.

The market remained under pressure on Thursday mainly due to the roll-over week. Investors were concerned over a smooth settlement. A mixed bag of financial results also went to dampen investor enthusiasm. Although everyone was keeping it quiet, the Covid situation in the country had worsened.

The active Coronavirus cases now stands at 92,244, the highest level since July 06, 2020. Knowledgeable investors kept to the sidelines as no one was willing to be trapped unawares in the event that a major lockdown was triggered.

The index moved in the range of intraday high by 124 points and low by 374 points. Traders said that lack of buying interest was also the result of investors’ attitude of “wait-and-watch”, though the stocks were available at attractive valuations. Banks picked up value scrips worth $1.49m to conform to Warren Buffett’s advice: “It is wise to be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful”.

Insurance companies were major sellers of equity worth $1.60m.

Selling pressure was evident in Cement, Oil & Gas Marketing Companies, Steel, Power, Fertilizer and Banking sectors.

Traded volumes declined 6pc from 384.6m shares a day earlier to 360.8m shares on Thursday.

Among scrips, HASCOL led the table with trading seen in 29m shares, followed by GGL and KOSM contributing around a quarter of the turnover.

Traded value however increased by 2pc to reach $70.8m as against $69.4m. Stocks that contributed positively to the index include Systems Limited (79 points), PSEL (35 points), MCB Bank (13 points), BAHL (8 points) and FABL (8 points). Stocks that contributed negatively included Lucky Cement (75 points), TRG (26 points), DGKC (18 points), HBL (16 points) and PSO (14 points).

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021