KARACHI: Pakistan equities extended declines on Monday with oils scrips mainly denting and dragging the benchmark KSE100 Index to below 45,700 points level. The index closed at 45682 after losing 390 points. The day kicked off on a negative note with market talk of a large block on offer in Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC) that lost 4.8 percent by a foreign holder at a discount. About 35 million shares were offered at 164-168 rupees and market talk suggests block deal to be completed today at Rs 164/share, 2 percent discount to Monday’s closing price. Notable names across cements and financials also witnessed profit-taking amid dull volumes. Overall, activity in the wider market remained depressed as institutional investors remained sidelined with KSE All Share Index recording a turnover of under $ 60 million. On results front, Attock Refinery (ATRL) that lost 3.9 percent closed in red after announcing lower quarterly earnings. Pakistan Oilfields (POL) that lost 0.5 percent released result after market close with earnings slightly below market estimates at Rs 13.15/shares. An analyst at Elixir Research Department, Jawwad Abubakr expects market to track flows as local investors await triggers before getting busy again in the market. He recommends staying long in Financials and Exploration and Productions (E&Ps). Traded volumes fell by 40 percent day-on-day (DoD) to 144 million shares as against 197 million shares traded previous day while value traded decreased to Rs 6 billion from Rs 8 billion. Top volume stocks were Unity Foods Limited with 12 million turnover, K-Electric Limited with 10.2 million turnover and Engro Polymer XD with 19.8 million turnover. Of the 374 traded scrips, 108 advanced, 260 declined and 18 remained unchanged. Published in Daily Times, April 17th 2018.