KARACHI: The benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange closed lower on Friday amid continuing economic uncertainty and opposition-led protests against the newly formed federal government.

According to Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation, fertiliser and oil sectors extended some mid-session support to the KSE-100 index on strong quarterly financial results. However, the slump in global equities, uncertainty over the outcome of Pakistan’s talks with the International Monetary Fund and the rupee’s instability against the dollar led the index to a bearish close.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 45,553.02 points, down 99.6 points or 0.22 per cent from a day ago.

The trading volume increased 16.7pc to 217.6 million shares while the traded value went down 5.8pc to $28.4m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK Ltd (23.65m shares), Hum Network Ltd (23.6m shares), Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (19.6m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (15.6m shares) and Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (15.4m shares).

Sectors that took away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included miscellaneous (66.84 points), chemical (30.53 points), fertiliser (25.90 points), commercial banking (24.77 points) and power generation and distribution (21.21 points).

Shares contributing most negatively to the index included Pakistan Services Ltd (65.92 points), Kot Addu Power Company Ltd (20.89 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pak­istan Ltd (19.94 points), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (17.18 points) and Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (15.52 points).

Stocks that contributed most positively to the index included Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (20.36 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (18.61 points), Systems Ltd (16.34 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (16.06 points) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (15.23 points).

Shares that registered the largest declines in percentage terms were Pakistan Services Ltd (7.5pc), Kot Addu Power Company Ltd (5.99pc), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (5.19pc), Colgate-Palm­olive Pakistan Ltd (4.71pc) and Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (3.89pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.66m.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022