KARACHI: The equity market plunged by over 400 points on Monday due to selling pressure seen in banking scrips.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 39,607 points as against 40,016 points showing a decline of 409 points.
Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened 26 points down but turned green for a short while up to +30 points.
However, the selling pressure in Banking sector, especially UBL and HBL plunged the market.
For good part of the session, UBL topped the volumes chart and price drop carried from previous sessions.
Overall market volumes remained anemic, where banking sector garnered most with 21 million shares out of which BOP did 12.2 million, followed by UBL 4.5 million shares.
Absence of positive news triggers and heightened tensions on the border with India dented investor sentiment.
Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-160 points), Cement (-46 points), E&P (-42 points), Fertilizer (-35 points), Power (-33 points).
Volumes declined from 99 million shares to 68 million shares (-31 percent DoD).
Average traded value also declined by 33 percent to reach US$ 26 million as against US$ 39 million.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include BOP, STPL, UBL, PAEL and KEL, which formed 40 percent of total volumes.
Stocks that contributed positively include FFC (+8 points), SHFA (+5 points), MCB (+5 points), POL (+3 points), and SCBPL (+3 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HBL (-54 points), UBL (-51 points), HUBC (-31 points), LUCK (-27 points) and DAWH (-22 points).
