KARACHI: Pakistan equities closed bearish on Tuesday after a nerve testing volatile session as the benchmark KSE-100 index plunged over 1,000 points within the first hour of trading to test 41,000 level. The benchmark index recouped a major chunk of losses before closing down by 170 points at 41983.16 level. Stocks opened lower and slipped deep in red with benchmark KSE 100 index testing 41,000, shedding over 1000 points or 2.5%, on selling primarily by local retail as investors remained concerned over mounting current account deficit and depleting foreign exchange reserves However, this tumble was followed by a sharp and very encouraging rebound on reported domestic institutional buying that helped wipe all the day’s losses. The Wider market traded briefly in green near closing bell; nonetheless, losses in Cements pulled market to settle the day marginally lower than the previous close, analysts at Elixir Securities said. “Stocks closed lower amid concerns for political uncertainty and weak financial results. Surge in global crude prices amid falling US inventories and reports that PM family did not receive NAB notice to appear for NAB reference in the Panama case invited mid session support. Foreign outflows, concerns for economic uncertainty and dismal trade deficit data for Jul’17 played a catalyst role in bearish close at PSX”, commented senior analyst, Ahsan Mehanti. On leader board, most positive impact came from Engro Corp, while Lucky Cements contributed most negative points to benchmark Index. DG Khan Cement also continued its losing streak and traded mostly at lower price limit churning highest volumes since January this year. Top 5 index point contributors included ENGRO (+1.9%), DAWH (+3%), BAHL (+2.8%), PPL (+1.2%) and EFERT (+2.8%) which added 113 points. On the contrary, LUCK (-3.4%), DGKC (-4.8%), FFC (-3.2%), SEARL (-4.2%) & HUBC (-1.3%) led to decline of 165 points. Cement sector continued to remain under pressure as it contributed 128 points to index decline following concerns of cement pricing pressure. Pharmaceutical also contributed 34 points to index whereas commercial banks added 42 points, a Topline Securities analysts’ report said. Volumes improved by 42% to 217 million shares whereas traded value was up 56% to Rs12.2 billion. Azgard Nine with 15.2 million shares traded topped the volume leaders’ chart followed by Aisha Steel Mill 14.2 million, Sui South Gas 11.4 million, K-Electric 10.4 million, and TRG Pak 9.9 million shares. Analysts expect the index to find footing near current levels and see a bounce back in the coming days on institutional cherry-picking. Published in Daily Times, August 23rd 2017.