Stock market plunges 1105 points on coronaviruse fears

Stock market plunges 1105 points on coronaviruse fears

KARACHI: The stock market plunged by 1,105 points or 2.7 percent on Monday owing to rising coronavirus cases in neighboring country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 39,144 points as against 40,249 points showing a decline of 1105 points (-2.7 percent DoD).

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market bled a total of 1169 points during the session and closed 1105 points down from LDCP.

Concerns from pending IMF Executive Board’s decision to developing and worsening situation at border with Iran due to Corona virus and decline in international crude oil prices caused panic among investors.

Foreign investors have largely been sellers during the past couple of sessions due to possible de-tracking and reversal of rupee appreciation that the currency has realized so far since last quarter.

Barring 48 scrips in green and 17 scrips unchanged, a total of 271 scrips on the Bourse saw decline across the board including E&P, Refineries, OMCs, Cement, Steel and Banking sectors being the prominent ones.

O&GMCs topped the volumes with 18.3 million shares, followed by Banks (17.4 million) and Cement (17.1 million).

Among scrips, HASCOL realized volumes of 14.4 million, followed by UNITY (11.5 million) and KEL (10.6 million).

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-311 points), E&P (-188 points), Fertilizer (-109 points), Power (-94 points) and Cement (-82 points).

Volumes increased from 85.6 million shares to 144.1 million shares (+68 percent DoD). Average traded value also increased by 54 percent to reach US$ 35.7 million as against US$ 23.2 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include HASCOL, UNITY, KEL, BOP and MLCF, which formed 35 percent of total volumes.

Stocks that contributed positively include NESTLE (+37 points), MUREB (+5 points), MTL (+4 points), DCR (+1 points) and EFUG (+1 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include PPL (-86 points), HBL (-78 points), HUBC (-67 points), UBL (-67 points), and OGDC (-60 points).