KARACHI: Range-bound trading took place on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday amidst rising inflationary pressures.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, investors remained cautious because weekly inflation witnessed the highest increase in three months. In addition, the weakening of the rupee against the dollar further dampened investors’ sentiments.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased the cash reserve requirement by one percentage point for scheduled banks last week for the first time in 13 years, a move that aims to curb runaway inflation. The expectation of an interest rate hike in the upcoming monetary policy announcement caused profit-booking in cyclical stocks along with accumulation in banking shares, it added.

As a result, the benchmark index decreased to 45,736.26 points, down 12.89 points or 0.03 per cent from last Friday.

Market participation decreased 10.2pc to 172.9 million shares on a day-on-day basis.

Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included cement (29.77 points), food and personal care (24.98 points), investment banking (18.04 points), oil and gas marketing (17.48 points) and power generation and distribution (10.83 points).

Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Hascol Petroleum Ltd (18.57m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (17.81m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (11.22m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (8.5m shares) and Fauji Foods Ltd (7.57m shares).

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Systems Ltd (42.66 points), Habib Bank Ltd (26.61 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (22.38 points), United Bank Ltd (20.26 points) and Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (19.13 points).

Shares that contributed negatively included Lucky Cement Ltd (24.89 points), TRG Pakistan Ltd (23.44 points), MCB Pakistan Ltd (21.07 points), Unity Foods Ltd (19.24 points) and The Searle Company Ltd (11.58 points).

Stocks recording the biggest losses in percentage terms included Unity Foods Ltd, which went down 5.52pc, followed by K-Electric Ltd (4.29pc), Pakistan Stock Exchange Ltd (3.78pc), National Refinery Ltd (2.79pc) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (2.53pc).

Foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded stocks worth $1.33m.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2021