KARACHI: The equity market had another range-bound trading session on Wednesday as share prices succumbed to the selling pressure on the back of negative triggers.

Topline Securities said equities took a downturn as Pakistan’s credit default swap (CDS) — insurance against a sovereign failure to pay back maturing debt — surged to a multi-year high of 75.5 per cent. The rise in the CDS weighed heavily on market sentiments, which led to a drop in the index to the intraday low of 68 points. But buying interest soon kicked in and supported the index to make an intraday high of 300 points.

Arif Habib Ltd said the benchmark swung both ways owing to a lack of investor engagement. Mainboard volumes were down while third-tier shares continued to lead in terms of volumes.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,983.75 points, up 186.9 points or 0.44pc from the preceding session.

The trading volume decreased 1pc to 186.7 million shares while the traded value went down 10.3pc to $29.96m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Unity Foods Ltd (19.4m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (16.1m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (11.5m shares), Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (9m shares) and JS Bank Ltd (8.8m shares).

Sectors that contributed to the index performance were fertiliser (134.3 points), technology and communication (97.7 points), investment banking (24 points), power generation and distribution (21.3 points) and chemical (7.4 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs25.57), Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs20), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs20), Engro Corporation Ltd (Rs14.39) and Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs12.62).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Allawasaya Textile and Finishing Mills Ltd (Rs197.20), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs87), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs74.67), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs66) and JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs33).

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2022