KARACHI: Pakistan equities erased all of Friday’s gains to close at 17-month low on Monday. KSE-100 continued to crash hard, clocking in a fresh 2017 intra-day low of 38,375 points before bouncing slightly to close the day at 38,482 points, down by 598 points or 1.5 percent. This has pushed KSE-100 year to date fall to 20%, while index has crashed 27% from its peak. Market opened positive and early trading saw KSE-100 Index shooting by over 350 points helped primarily by gains in E&Ps. However, as the day progressed, institutional selling dragged down index where notable names across Cements, Fertilizers and Banks bore the brunt and pulled benchmark KSE100 Index in negative zone below 38,500 level. Interestingly, Hub Power HUBC PA -1.1% and Nishat Mills NML PA -0.0%, that stand to benefit from Rupee depreciation, failed to trade higher despite Rupee further sinking by another 1% against greenback in interbank market (PKR/USD closed at 108.4). SBP on Friday had shown its willingness to let the PKR find its direction through demand and supply in the market, which alleviated the volatility and is likely to remain market’s key focus in the days to come, analyst at Elixir Securities said.. Panic gripped investor sentiments amid concerns for political and economic uncertainty. Stock fell across the board on rupee depreciation on surging import bill, dismal data on CPI Inflation for Nov’17, weak global crude oil prices and concerns for higher current account and trade deficit played a catalyst role in major fall at PSX, Ahsan Mehanti, senior analyst, said. In Monday participation remained dull, average volumes declined 13% d/d while traded value declined 19%. Top 10 Index point decliners were LUCK (?3.9%), PSO (?5%), ENGRO (?2.6%), DAWH (?3.6%), MCB (?1.7%), SNGP (?5%), DGKC (? 3.6%), SEARL (?5%), HBL (?0.8%) & ISL (?5%); withholding 311pts, while stocks including OGDC (+3%), PPL (+2.2%), POL (+0.8%), MARI (+2%) and NESTLE (+1%) added 130 points. On the sector front; Cement eroded 123 points, Fertilizer 118 points, Banks 100 points, OMCs 97 points, Auto Assemblers 53 points, Engineering 43 points, Power 36 points, Pharmaceuticals 34 points, Refinery 21 points, Tech & Transport 20 points each, while dollar hedge E&Ps added 124 points. Published in Daily Times, December 12th 2017.