KARACHI: On Thursday, individuals and institutions decided to stay invested in stocks while insurance companies and mutual funds opted to take profit which set an uncertain tone at the market.

With no fresh triggers and financial results of major companies still to arrive, the market started positive, but later the alternate bout of buying and selling saw the KSE-100 index oscillate between intraday high and low by 107 and 207 points.

The trading board started to turn red in the last hour as the index closed with a loss of 149 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 47,641. Foreign investors stayed on the sidelines with nominal buying of $0.12m.

Investors continued to worry over the nationwide coronavirus positivity ratio that has climbed to 8.46pc, but a concurrent rush for vaccination provided hope of respite in few weeks. On the other hand, the government had raised Rs145bn through the auction of fixed rate PIBs against the pre-auction target of Rs150bn.

At the market, the technology, cements, and pharmaceutical stocks could not garner investor interest after the recent upsurge in their prices. “Rupee parity has been stable, however, the outlook suggests an appreciation is in the offing that kept the investors undecided on portfolio positions,” analysts at Arif Habib Ltd said.

Analyst Ahsan Mehanti reckoned that the early session support was witnessed on optimism over surge in exports and anticipation of strong financial results in some sectors.

Scrips that were major laggards included PSEL (36 points), System Ltd (15 points), TRG (13 points), BAHL (10 points) and SNGP (10 points).

The gainers in a sluggish market were JLICL (9 points), MTL (9 points), PTC (8 points), MEBL (6 points) and HMB (5 points).

The trading volume edged higher by 2pc over the previous day to 546.8m shares. PTC led the list while other side-board items including TPL, TELE, GGL and HUMN contributed 30pc to the aggregate turnover. The traded value of shares went marginally up by 1 to reach $92.7m.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2021