KARACHI: Stocks at the Pakistan equity market snapped the four-day winning streak as the KSE-100 index succumbed to selling pressure due to investors’ nervousness following its run-up over the 42,000 level; the urge to book profit with the weekend ahead and uncertainty over the much talked about the “Karachi package’’ that Prime Minister Imran Khan was thought to unveil on his visit to the city on Saturday.

The local market also took a cue from the rout in the global equity markets which tumbled following the news that the vaccine against Covid-19 may not be on the racks before November. The benchmark dipped by 165 points (0.39 per cent) on Friday to settle at 42,023.

Over the week however, the index made splendid gains of 967 points. The benchmark opened in the positive and climbed to intraday high by 104 points, before profit-taking set in, which saw it spiral downward to intraday low by 264 points.

Selling pressure was observed in cement, fertiliser, exploration and production and banking stocks while the stray gainers were mainly from steel and technology.

Foreign investors sold shares worth $2.78 million, which were mainly picked up banks and individuals. The volume declined 18pc over the previous day’s 15-year high turnover of 919m shares to 758m. Traded value also receded by 7pc to reach $149.4m.

Major losers among cement scrips were Cherat was down 1.7pc, Lucky 1.2pc and Power 2.3pc. Among banks, Allied lost 1.3pc, National 2.4pc, United 1.8pc, Alfalah 0.5pc and MCB 0.6pc. Steel sector saw increase in prices of ISL, up 5.2pc, INIL 4.8pc, Ittefaq 4.6pc and Amreli 2.6pc.

Report by Arif Habib Ltd stated that sectors contributing to the index decline included banks, lower by 60 points, power 59 points, cement 32 points and fertiliser 20 points. Among scrips, major laggards were Hub Power, down 2.8pc, United Bank 1.8pc, Lucky Cement 1.2pc, TRG 2.1pc, National Bank 2.4pc and Pakistan State Oil 1.1pc.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020