KARACHI: Overall political noise in the country continued to take its toll on the market with benchmark KSE-100 index plummeting by 3.4 percent week-on week (WoW) to close at 45,288 points. KS-100 Index lost 1,589 points WoW amidst thin volumes as the market remained cautious on the back of continued political uncertainty. Average trading volumes during the week remained low, falling 46 percent to 190 million against 349 million traded last week. Major trading volume was witnessed in retail favorites lead by Azgard Nine with 62 million shares, TRG Pakistan with 58 million shares and K-Electric with 58 million shares. The result season factored into the stock performance during the week where Pakistan State Oil’s (PSO) robust earnings drove the stock up, adding 51 points to the KSE-100 index, while Habib Bank’s (HBL) disappointing result caused 140 points attrition from the benchmark index. Foreign investors also continued their selling spree amidst concerns over potential deterioration of Pakistani Rupee -US Dollar parity and political uncertainty in the country as foreigners’ net selling clocked in at 31.2 million during the week while Mutual Funds and Insurance companies absorbed the selling with net buys of $6.5 million and 7.4 million, respectively. Overall political uncertainty combined with uninspiring corporate result season contributed towards another splash of red on the screens at the end of the week, said JS Research’s analyst Faizan Ahmed. Elixir Research’s analyst said the market continues to await further clarity on the ongoing political scenario while the ongoing foreign selling, due to expected Pakistani Rupee US Dollar depreciation, may also continue to keep market under pressure. ‘We anticipate the market volumes to remain weak as the ongoing political fiasco moves towards exhibition of street power’. Almost all major sectors such as Exploration & Productions (E&Ps) loosing 3.5 percent WoW, banks loosing 3.0 percent WoW, fertilizers losing 4.6 percent WoW and cements losing 3.9 percent WoW posted declines during the week. Published in Daily Times, August 13th 2017.