KARACHI: The equities market had a directionless session on Thursday as the KSE-100 index kicked off the day in the green zone, but closed lower than the preceding close.

According to Topline Securities, better-than-expected financial results from the companies in the refinery sector attracted investors to Attock Refinery Ltd and Pakistan Refinery Ltd.

However, the stock market came under pressure owing to further devaluation of the rupee against the dollar. Meanwhile, investors were concerned over the spikes in the yields of market treasury bills, said Arif Habib Ltd.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 45,652.62 points, down 290.54 points or 0.63 per cent from a day ago.

The trading volume decreased 20.7pc to 186.4 million shares while the traded value went down 29.8pc to $30.1m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (19.98m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (19.85m shares), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (12.9m shares), Hum Network Ltd (8.28m shares) and Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (7.88m shares).

Sectors that took away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included commercial banking (61.84 points), oil and gas exploration (37.29 points), fertiliser (35.34 points), cement (34.71 points) and technology and communication (32.1 points).

Shares contributing most negatively to the index included Engro Corporation Ltd (64.3 points), Bank AL Habib Ltd (34.17 points), Systems Ltd (21.16 points), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (19.57 points) and Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (15.71 points).

Stocks that contributed most positively to the index included Engro Fertilisers Ltd (25.28 points), Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (8.1 points), Cnergyico PK Ltd (7.56 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (6.34 points) and Askari Bank Ltd (6.31 points).

Shares that registered the largest declines in percentage terms were Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan Ltd (4.59pc), International Steels Ltd (3.12pc), Unity Foods Ltd (3.06pc), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (2.78pc) and Engro Corporation Ltd (2.76pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.17m.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2022