Index takes 285 points plunge

The fear of suspension of US aid on Wednesday invited panic selling at the Karachi share market and the KSE-100 index registered heavy decline of 284.84 points to close at 11,672.05 points. "Major correction in the Asian markets was another reason that affected investors' sentiment and forced them to offload their holdings", analysts said.
Foreign investors' activity remained very low and they emerged net sellers of shares worth $0.08 million. Although the opening was positive and the index hit 12,010.47 points intra-day high, up 53.58 points, panic selling forced the index into negative at 11,638.99 points intra-day low level, down 317.90 points.
Trading volume at ready counter went up to 89.086 million shares as compared to 50.670 million shares traded on Tuesday. Market capitalisation declined by Rs 74 billion to Rs 3.104 trillion. Of 361 active scrips, 250 closed in negative and 39 in positive, while the values of 72 scrips remained unchanged. Lotte Pakistan PTA was the volume leader with 14.160 million shares.
However, it lost Re 0.79 to close at Rs 15.17. SilkBank gained Re 0.09 to close at Rs 2.59 with 4.308 million shares while NBP declined by Rs 1.17 to close at Rs 49.94 with 2.023 million shares. Jahangir Siddiqui Co lost Re 0.70 to close at Rs 4.98 with 4.068 million shares. Azgard Nine decreased by Re 0.46 to close at Rs 4.53 with 3.499 million shares.
Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim lost Re 0.66 to close at Rs 41.29 with 3.291 million shares. D G Khan (R) declined by Re 1.00 to close at Rs 1.80 with 2.592 million shares. OGDC plunged by Rs 5.43 to close at Rs 141.86 with 2.276 million shares. Nishat Mills declined by Rs 2.19 to close at Rs 58.87 with 2.254 million shares. Arif Habib Corp lost Rs 1.10 to close at Rs 21.07 with 2.106 million shares.
Al Ghazi Tractors and PSO were the highest gainers increasing by Rs 2.96 and Rs 1.26 to close at Rs 223.96 and Rs 274.46 respectively, while Unilever Pak and Nestle Pakistan were the worst losers declining by Rs 128.03 and Rs 68.45 to close at Rs 5000.59 and Rs 3435.22 respectively.
Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Investments said that panic selling was witnessed in scrips across the board as investors feared US aid suspension after US congress leaders' suspicion against Pakistan. He said that CIA chief's comments on Pakistan's incompetence or involvement in lodging al Qaeda chief was taken negative. The major correction in Asian capital markets, fall in global commodities and energy shortages in the country played a catalyst role in bearish activity after major earning announcements at KSE, he added.