Stocks shed 199 points on profit-taking

KARACHI: The stock market relapsed into the red only a day after booking massive gains as investors decided to take profit on the side of caution.

The KSE-100 index shed 198.92 points (0.49 per cent) and closed at 40,281.96 in a choppy trade that kept the index range-bound between the intra-day high and low by 433 and 257 points.

The market was seized by the US elections with investors debating over the outcome. “Global stocks and commodities market are at the edge of their nerves as the consensus view is that the victory of Donald Trump could give them the boost while they may sink in case of victory of his opponent”, said Abdul Azeem, Head of Research at Spectrum Securities.

Other than that, the meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Tuesday decided that there would be no lock downs even in the event of increased new Covid-19 cases, yet investors were spooked by the possible change of plans going forward.

It put into shade the positive news flow of the rupee gathering strength against the dollar; the uptick of 2.1pc in exports during October and the increase in oil sales by 6pc in the July-Oct 2021-21, signifying that the wheels of industry were turning. The enthusiasm over the government’s decision announced a day ago to encouraging additional consumption of power by small and medium industries on reduced tariff, also lost its lustre.

Foreign investors continued to seek exit with sale of stocks worth $1.48 million, major selling of shares valued at $1.78m was prompted by the “brokers proprietary trading”. Insurance companies came in to rescue with value buying of $1.27m and prevented the market from a further fall. Volumes increased from 383.9m shares to 427.8m shares (up 11pc day on day). Average traded value however, increased by 1pc to reach $87.0m as against $86.3m.

Selling pressure was witnessed in the banking, cement, power and fertiliser sectors. Major scrips which dragged down the index included Habib Bank Ltd, down 38 points; Hub Power Company, 37 points; United Bank Ltd, 27 points; Pakistan State Oil, 17 points and Bank Al Habib Ltd 17 points.