Pakistan equities ended down on Tuesday with the benchmark KSE-100 Index nose-diving 785 points, closing at 38,822 levels, down 2 percent. The local bourse made intra-day low of -880 points. The negativity in the market was down to the escalating political scenario with India. Trust Securities’ equity analyst said the benchmark KSE-100 index opened Tuesday’s trading session 184 points in the “red zone” where the index kept on losing points which brought the index level to new lows where the index made a low of -880 points. However, throughout the trading session volatility played its part as the index kept fluctuating, after continuously making new lows, “buying” increased momentarily but it wasn’t enough to pull the market into the “green zone”, the reason as to why the KSE-100 index took a beating and opened in the “red” was because of the drastic increase in the political tension between India and Pakistan. Overall, all the sectors came under pressure where Exploration and Productions (E&Ps), financials, cements and fertilizers were the major laggards. DG Khan Cement reported first half FY19 consolidated EPS of Rs3.82, whereas Pioneer Cement (PIOC) announced first half FY19 EPS at Rs2.32. Moreover, Nishat Mills Limited (NML) (-3.2%) reported first half FY19 consolidated an EPS of Rs10.84 with no cash payout. Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Oil Gas Development Company (OGDC), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Engro, MCB Bank, Hubco, Fauji Fertiliser Company (FFC), United Bank Limited (UBL), Pakistan Oil Fields (POL) and Lucky Cement were top scrips that cumulatively contributed -314 points to the close. Market traded value stood at $50 million, up 90 percent and volume stood at 162 million shares, up 138 percent. Furthermore, major contribution to total market volume came from Bank of Punjab (BOP), K-Electric, Engro Polymer Chemical Limited (EPCL), Pakistan International Bulk Limited (PIBTL). An equity analyst Danish Ladhani expects market to remain volatile on the geo-political concerns with India. Published in Daily Times, February 27th 2019.