KARACHI: The shares market witnessed yet another range-bound session on Wednesday as a lack of participation from investors pushed the index down even though the start of trading was on a positive note.

Arif Habib Ltd said market participation remained comparatively lower than the previous session as volumes were dry on the main board. However, third-tier stocks recorded decent volumes.

According to JS Global, rising political temperature and profit-taking by investors led the benchmark to close on the lower side. “Going forward, we recommend investors should remain cautious at current levels and wait for fresh buying,” it added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,880.31 points, down 48.32 points or 0.11 per cent from the preceding session.

The trading volume decreased 29.3pc to 138.6 million shares while the traded value went down 24.4pc to $23m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (16.4m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (13.1m shares), the Hub Power Company Ltd (12.4m shares), BankIslami Pakistan Ltd (8.6m shares) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (6.6m shares).

Sectors that contributed negatively to the index performance were power generation and distribution (65.8 points), commercial banking (19.8 points), miscellaneous (18.5 points), cement (10.9 points) and tobacco (10 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Allawasaya Textile and Finishing Mills Ltd (Rs194.99), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs77), Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs33.75), Blessed Textiles Ltd (Rs28.98) and Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs18.68).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs80), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs71.98), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs62.60), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs36) and Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs30.01).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth 0.31m.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2022