KARACHI: The KSE-100 index moved within the red territory during the first trading hour on Monday as political unrest continued to dominate the shares market.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, further devaluation of the rupee against the dollar also affected the investors’ sentiments. The cement sector remained in the limelight due to a price increase of Rs15 per bag in the South region, except Karachi.

Trading activity remained sideways later on as the market witnessed hefty volumes in third-tier stocks. The mood of investors saw improvement after the press reported the premier agreed to some of the demands put forward by the government allies. In the last trading hour, value buying took place, lifting the index to the green zone.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 43,933.56 points, up 382.41 points or 0.88 per cent from a day ago.

The trading volume decreased 18.1pc to 132.6 million shares while the traded value went up 15.8pc to $26.4m on a day-on-day basis.

Sectors that contributed the highest number of points to the benchmark index included cement (120.09 points), commercial banking (50.37 points), auto (48.02 points), oil and gas exploration (40.33 points) and pharmaceutical (20.85 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included TeleCard Ltd (13.11m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (6.66m shares), K-Electric Ltd (6.6m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (6.17m shares) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (5.64m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Lucky Cement Ltd (56.11 points), Millat Tractors Ltd (36.94 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (23.14 points), D.G. Khan Cement Company Ltd (22.54 points) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (17.2 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (12.61 points), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (9.73 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (nine points), Engro Corporation Ltd (7.68 points) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (3.86 points).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.64m.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2022