Stocks shed 56.5 points Tuesday to close at 33,910.17 points from 33,966.75 points Monday. Lack of trigger and profit-taking in select stocks the analysts cited as major reasons for the day's bearish trend. In intraday trade, the KSE-100 index remained volatile and hit the intraday high and low of 34,040.50 and 33,899.09 points. "Volatility continued... as the index juggled between +0.22 and -0.20 percent," said Ahmed Saeed Khan of JS Research.
Trading turnover, however, stood higher at 170 million shares compared to the previous 135 million. Value of stocks also surged to Rs 8.83 billion from Rs 7.58 billion a day earlier. Of the 384 scrips traded, 135 posted gains, 218 lost their worth while 31 remained unchanged. The market cap ended at Rs 7.242 trillion.
Foreign investors appeared as net sellers of portfolios worth $251,267. The day's trading volumes were led by TRG Pakistan with 14.7 million shares. The issue grew to Rs 37.35 at close. Other best performing stocks were Pak Elektron 14.2 million, Jahangir Siddiqui Company 11.3 million, Pace Pakistan 9.2 million, Byco Petroleum 8.2 million, Kot Addu Power 6.7 million, Prud Mod 6.0 million, Descon Chemical 4.9 million, K-Electric 4.6 million and SNGPL 4.9 million shares.
Futures trade remained upward at 25 million contracts from 21 million of last session. "(Trading) activity was seen in mid cap stocks like TRG, PAEL and JSCL," said Mohammad Rizwan of Topline Securities. The JS analyst Khan said the E&P sector remained depressed as international crude oil prices continued its downward trajectory. "Cherry picking and profit-taking continued in the fertiliser sector on the back of expected gas tariff hike in January," he said.
The banking sector remained upbeat throughout the day, with three out of five big five banks closing marginally higher, said the analyst. MCB gained 0.62 percent after announcing close to expectation results rallied the most between the big five banks. "Moving forward we expect volatility to persist in the market as the market lacks a trigger," said Khan.