Index sheds 107.13 points

Uncertainty on political front on Tuesday invited panic selling on the Karachi share market and the KSE-100 index declined by 107.13 points to close at 10,933.18 points. The market opened in deep red and the index hit 10,768.60 points intra-day low level, down 271.71 points. However, selective buying in late hours supported the index to minimise its intra-day losses.
Trading volumes at ready counter slightly improved at 43.524 million shares, as compared to previous day's 20.914 million shares. Total market capitalisation declined by Rs 27 billion to stand at Rs 2.845 trillion. Of the total 329 active stocks, 175 closed in negative and only 52 in positive, while the value of 102 stocks remained unchanged.
Habib Sugar was the volume leader with 4.445 million shares, however lost Re 0.76 to close at Rs 22.02 followed by Hub Power Co. that gained Re 0.09 to close at Rs 33.68 with 4.411 million shares. Lotte Pakistan PTA decreased by Re 0.30 to close at Rs 9.84 with 3.936 million shares.
In the banking sector, Soneri Bank and NBP lost Re 0.01 and Re 0.81 to close at Rs 4.00 and Rs 43.44 with 3.116 million shares and 2.108 million shares, respectively. Investors interest was seen in some fertiliser sector stocks, as Fatima Fertiliser Co. and Engro Corp increased by Re 0.12 and Re 0.44 to close at Rs 22.78 and Rs 95.38 with 2.494 million shares and 1.532 million shares, respectively while Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim declined by Re 0.11 to close at Rs 41.94 with 1.337 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co. lost Re 0.02 to close at Rs 4.04 with 1.493 million shares.
Selling was also seen in the heavy weight E&P sector stocks, as OGDC declined by Rs 1.95 to close at Rs 134.06 with 1.365 million shares. Mirpurkhas Sugar and Shifa International were the highest gainers increased by Rs 1.47 and Rs 1.14 to close at Rs 42.97 and Rs 27.64, respectively while Nestle Pakistan and Unilever Pak were the worst losers declining by Rs 109.26 and Rs 73.10 to close at Rs 2910.73 and Rs 5308.57, respectively.
Hasnain Asghar Ali at Aziz Fidahusein Co. said that chilly winds blowing from the political, geo-political, financial and economic horizon, coupled with fierce dumping from the offshore channels forced even the resident participants into hibernation, thus leading to further squeezing in volumes, and the benchmark landed way below psychological 11000.
He said unprecedented selling from both off-shore and local corridors mainly in the high priced stocks and index heavy weights pushed the index in deep red zone, wherein low volume price erosion stayed a common feature due to absence of support from the local corporate, announcement of the judicial decision did add colour of panic, thus pushing the index down by almost 2.5 percent, short covering from then on, however allowed the index to stage an intra-day recovery, queued up sellers on strength, however restricted the recovery, and the index closed with wider dent, and below psychological 11000.