KARACHI: Stock trading began on a negative note in the outgoing week because of the delay in talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Arif Habib Ltd said the postponement of the visit by the Saudi crown prince contributed to the negative sentiment.

Additionally, the rupee remained under pressure in the outgoing week and plummeted by 1.53 or 0.69 per cent week-on-week to 223.17.

Meanwhile, the large-scale manufacturing index registered a 0.4pc year-on-year dip in the first quarter of 2022-23. The removal of Pakistan from the United Kingdom’s High-Risk Third Countries cushioned the overall dip.

As a result, the index closed at 42,730 points after shedding 363 points or 0.84pc on a week-on-week basis.

Sector-wise, negative contributions came from oil and gas exploration (124 points), commercial banking (119 points), miscellaneous (58 points), cement (57 points) and food and personal care products (57 points).

Sectors that contributed positively were fertiliser (140 points), technology and communication (65 points) and chemical (17 points).

Scrip-wise negative contributors were Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (61 points), Pakistan Services Ltd (53 points), Unity Foods Ltd (45 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd (42 points) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (35 points).

Meanwhile, positive contributions came from Engro Corporation Ltd (104 points), TRG Pakistan Ltd (56 points), Systems Ltd (26 points), Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (19 points) and Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (18 points).

Foreign buying was witnessed in the outgoing week as it clocked in at $2.06 million versus a net sale of $4.65m in the preceding week.

Major buying was witnessed in oil marketing ($0.75m), “other sectors” ($0.47m) and technology and communications ($0.45m). On the local front, selling was reported by brokers-proprietary ($2.9m) and mutual funds ($1.96m).

The average daily volume clocked in at 186m shares, down 26pc from a week ago. The average value traded settled at $28m, down 14pc on a weekly basis.

According to AKD Securities, the stock market is expected to remain range-bound in the near future amid concerns about the country’s liquidity position and the outcome of discussions with the International Monetary Fund.

The capital market will be taking further cues from the monetary policy announcement scheduled for Nov 25.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2022