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KARACHI: The likelihood of monetary tightening induced bearish sentiments on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
According to Arif Habib Ltd, investors expected aggressive tightening of 100 basis points in the monetary policy announcement due on Friday.
With mounting inflationary expectations and rising secondary market yields, trading on the bourse experienced an across-the-board sell-off right after the opening bell. Banking stocks witnessed accumulation as investors opted for a cautious approach. Institutional buyers also resorted to value hunting in the last trading hour.
As a result, the KSE-100 index lost 348.49 points or 0.75 per cent to close at 46,194.42 points.
Market participation decreased 1.9pc to 238.49 million shares while the value of traded shares also dropped 2.9pc to $58.3m.
Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included cement (135.75 points), technology and communication (84.08 points), oil and gas exploration (34.06 points), oil and gas marketing (31.42 points) and pharmaceutical (23.74 points).
Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included Service Fabrics Ltd (18.93m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (15.96m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (13.96m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (12.58m shares) and Merit Packaging Ltd (12.15m shares).
Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Systems Ltd (41.5 points), MCB Bank Ltd (39.24 points), Meezan Bank Ltd (29.52 points), Bank AL Habib Ltd (25.69 points) and United Bank Ltd (9.48 points).
Shares that contributed negatively included TRG Pakistan Ltd (109.69 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (65.94 points), Habib Bank Ltd (22.89 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (19.32 points) and D.G. Khan Cement Company Ltd (19.13 points).
Stocks recording the biggest declines in percentage terms included TRG Pakistan Ltd, which went down 7.5pc, followed by Murree Brewery Company Ltd (7.08pc), Feroze1888 Mills Ltd (5.04pc), Shakarganj Ltd (5.03pc) and Pioneer Cement Ltd (4.17pc).
Foreign investors remained net sellers as they offloaded stocks worth $5.52m.
Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2021
