KARACHI: Despite the passage of a mini-budget on Friday, trading on the Pakistan Stock Exchange remained dull because of investors’ risk aversion growing out of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, said Arif Habib Ltd.

Analysts at JS Global said investors should look for opportunities to buy technology, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration stocks on dips.

The benchmark index closed at 45,763 points, registering little change from a day ago.

Market participation decreased 26.7 per cent to 240 million shares while the value of traded shares went down 5.9pc to $34.6m.

Sectors adding the highest number of points to the benchmark index included commercial banking (43.24 points), oil and gas exploration (28.25 points), fertiliser (18.24 points), tobacco (10.09 points) and pharmaceutical (9.73 points).

Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included cement (46.69 points), power generation and distribution (19.67 points), engineering (12.92 points), technology and communication (12.18 points) and refinery (8.63 points).

Stocks that contributing significantly to the traded volume included Unity Foods Ltd-R (26.26m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (25.13m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (23.68m shares), Dost Steels Ltd (11.09m shares) and Unity Foods Ltd (9.81m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Habib Bank Ltd (29.33 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (14.23 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (13.22 points), Indus Motor Company Ltd (11.06 points) and Bank Alfalah Ltd (8.09 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included The Hub Power Company Ltd (15.75 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (13.94 points), Unity Foods Ltd (11.95 points), Avanceon Ltd (9.50 points) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (8.30 points).

Stocks recording the biggest declines in percentage terms included Yousaf Weaving Mills Ltd, which went down 3.96pc, followed by Avanceon Ltd (3.4pc), Unity Foods Ltd (3.36pc), Aisha Steel Mills Ltd (2.99pc) and Kohat Cement Company Ltd (2.78pc).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased securities worth $0.213m.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2022