KARACHI: After an overnight rally, the stock market on Wednesday moved southward in a volatile session spooked by growing fears of lockdown in major cities as warned by the NCOC in the wake of rising cases of Covid infections. The benchmark KSE 100 index lost 93 points, or 0.2 per cent, to close at 45,307.

The index moved both ways and hit intraday high of 227 points and low of 174 as investors resorted to profit-booking in a jittery session which intensified the selling pressure.

Arif Habib Ltd in its report said O&GMCs, E&P, cement and steel sectors bore the brunt and waning investor confidence had its bearing on technology stocks as well.

Maple Leaf, Aisha Steel Mills Lt and International Steels, among others, announced their financial results.

However, foreigners’ interest revived and they picked up shares worth $4.25 million followed by companies $0.107m, showed data released by National Clearing Company of Pakistan. Individuals sold equities worth $0.764m followed by banks $0.44m and mutual funds $0.629m.

Sectors contributing to the performance include technology (72 points), banks (59 points), fertiliser (18 points), cement (76 points), E&P (-45 points), and engineering (-24 points).

The trading volume increased 13pc to 387.9mn shares from 343.2m shares and the traded value also jumped by 36pc to $126.5m from $92.8m the previous day.

TRG led the table with 46.7 million shares, followed by Worldcall Ltd (42.8m shares) and Unity Foods (37.5m shares).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index include TRG (88 points), Engro (37 points), NBP Bank (22 points), Kohinoor Textile (18 points) and EFertiliser (13 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include Lucky Cement (28 points), FFC (22 points), POL (18 points), OGDC (16 points) and International Steels (15 points).

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2021