Daily Times

KARACHI: The stock market collapsed on Monday as the global meltdown over China’s yuan devaluation along with tumbling oil prices sank the Karachi bourse deeper into crisis with index dipping to almost 5%.

Prominent businessman and AKD Group Chairman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi said China’s Yuan devaluation triggered worldwide selling, as the investors’ offloaded huge investment globally that haunted the Karachi stocks too. He said the local political chaos also contributed in the KSE-100 fall down.

“The market will further track China’s economy similar to world trend as the global equities have lost massive value following China’s shock currency devaluation,” said Dhedhi.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)-100 index lost 1,419.43 points to close at 33,100.34 points as compared to 34519.77 of the previous session. The KSE-30 Index shed 949.94 points and closed at 20158.25 points against 21108.19 points of the last closing.

Habib Metro Financial Services’ analyst Saba Mahmood said the KSE-100 index bled on first trading day of the week as local bourse felt the waves of international markets. Heavy selling in the regional markets panicked the investors while political instability further cemented the bearish sentiments, she added.

“We expect that the index will remain under pressure while savvy investors will keep the cash and wait for the right opportunity to take fresh positions,” she said.

Elixir Securities’ analyst Faisal Bilwani Pakistan said the equities were no different than regional peers with benchmark KSE-100 plummeting to 11-week low and ending the worst day ever recorded. After the last week’s fall and fear of possible foreign selling in index names, the investors over the weekend were worried over political noise while sharp losses in the regional markets left no hope of a possible bounce or aggressive value buying, he added.

“We see a volatile market with investors only concerned to be aligned with regional markets. Any recovery in Asian trade early today will give confidence to value hunters while we see support kicking in 200-300 points lower primarily in small caps and safe-haven yield plays,” added Bilwani.

The market volume jumped to 322.553 million shares traded as compared to 314.498 million shares traded in the previous session. Trading value at local bourse fell to Rs 12.543 billion against Rs 13.932 billion of the previous session. Out of 386 scrips, 24 scrips advanced, 386 scrips declined while the value of 5 scrips remained unchanged.

The KMI-30 index dropped 2825.52 points to close at 54737.68 points as compared to 57563.20 points of the previous session. The KSE all-share index went 900.33 points down to close at 23228.29 points as compared to 24128.62 points of the previous session.

K-Electric Limited was the volume leader in the market with 63.904 million shares as it closed at Rs 7.15 followed by Lotte Chemical with trading of 18.939 million shares and closed at Rs 6.72. PTCL XD traded 12.691 million shares and closed at Rs 18.51.