KARACHI: Stocks snapped upward journey on Thursday as the KSE-100 index lost 81.04 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 45,230.18 on Thursday following the warning of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) of stricter restrictions in the wake of rising Covid infection cases.
Arif Habib Ltd stated that the market remained traded in a narrow range as the benchmark index oscillated between intraday high and low of 136 points.
Total traded volume maintained a plateau with a general disinterest by investors disregarding the overnight increase in international crude oil prices and upcoming financial results due to be announced from next week.
Although E&P stocks reacted to the increase in international crude, the price performance remained muted. Cement and steel sectors, which performed in the recent sessions saw profit-booking. Technology stocks also bore selling pressure with the exception of Telecard that hit upper circuit.
Among scrips, Telecard topped the volume with 73.5 million shares followed by WTL 64.7m and Hum Network 17.3m shares.
The trading volume increased from 341.8m shares to 347.7m shares. However, the traded value declined by 24pc to reach $82.5m as against $108.5m.
Stocks that contributed significantly to the volume include Telecard, Worldcall, Hum Network, Ghani Global and TRG forming 52pc of the total turnover.
Stocks that contributed positively to the index include OGDC (18 points), FFC (13 points), Engro (9 points), PAKT (7 points) and CHCC (7 points).
Around 374 companies actively traded with 134 recorded gains and 218 sustained losses whereas the share price of 22 companies remained unchanged.
Sapphire Textile remained top gainer for the second day rising by Rs61.05 to Rs875.05 followed by Nestle Pakistan which increased by Rs41.49 to Rs5851.49.
Stocks that contributed negatively include TRG (18 points), Lucky Cement (17 points). BAHL (15 points), HBL (14 points) and JLICL (8 points).
Bhanero Tex suffered Rs54.90 fall to Rs895 whereas AKD Capital was runner up with the decrease of Rs35.01 to Rs440.11.
Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2021
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