KARACHI: Stock trading on Monday started on a mixed note, with news reports about the disbursement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche of $1.2 billion in the current week supporting market sentiments to some extent.

Topline Securities said the KSE-100 index opened on a positive note and made an intraday high of 230 points or 0.57 per cent. However, the inflation number for July exerted selling pressure on the stock market and drove down the index to the intraday low of 80 points or 0.2pc.

Prices of consumer items rose almost 25pc on a year-on-year basis in July — a pace of increase last witnessed 14 years ago in the midst of a global recession.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,075.96 points, down 74.4 points or 0.19pc from a day ago.

The trading volume decreased 35.1pc to 110.4 million shares while the traded value went down 41.1pc to $15.6m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included TPL Properties Ltd (12.72m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (9.21m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (8.63m shares), Agritech Ltd (8.42m shares) and Telecard Ltd (5.78m shares).

Sectors contributing to the index performance included fertiliser (-55.6 points), banking (-31.6 points), insurance (-22 points), exploration and production (-10.5 points) and power (-7.8 points).

Top advancers in percentage terms were Balochistan Glass Ltd (11.1pc), Modaraba Al-Mali (9.12pc), KASB Modaraba (7.74pc), Hashimi Can Company Ltd (7.7pc) and Huffaz Seamless Pipe Industries Ltd (7.5pc).

Top decliners in percentage terms were Cordoba Logistics and Ventures Ltd (40.34), First Fidelity Leasing Modaraba (23.42pc), Tri-Star Power Ltd (17.72pc), First Capital Securities Corporation (11.76pc) and PICIC Insurance Ltd (8.89pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.1m.

JS Global said macroeconomic indicators point to a slowdown in economic activity, which warrants cherry-picking in the equity market. “Decline in demand is likely to continue in sectors such as cement, steel and auto over the reduced availability of imported raw material and a rise in product prices,” it added.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2022