KARACHI: Stock prices observed a negative trend on Tuesday as the dollar continued its flight against the rupee.

Arif Habib Ltd said the benchmark opened in the positive zone but failed to sustain the momentum, leading the index to an intra-day low of 441.88 points. The trading volume remained decent in main-board shares whereas third-tier firms recorded hefty trading.

The rupee depreciated 0.42 per cent against the dollar in the inter-bank market and closed at 238.91.

JS Global said the stock market remained range-bound due to a lack of positive triggers. It expects the range-bound activity to continue and, therefore, recommends that investors should stay cautious going forward.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,220.91 points, down 299.68 points or 0.72pc from a day ago.

The trading volume increased 5.6pc to 156.6 million shares while the traded value went down 24.6pc to $23.7m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (18.41m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (14.43m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (14.35m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (9.87m shares) and Engro Polymer and Chemicals Ltd (9.16m shares).

Sectors that contributed negatively to the index performance were exploration and production (123.2 points), technology (57.8 points), banking (27.3 points), cement (24.1 points) and power (23.6 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs75.06), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs15), Millat Tractors Ltd (Rs7.86), Thal Ltd (Rs6.55) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs6.31).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs70.51), Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs30.60), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs26.80), Sitara Chemical Industries Ltd (Rs20.62), Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd (Rs12.30).

Foreign investors rem­ained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.36m.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022