KARACHI: Share prices lost their upward momentum on Tuesday as investors worried about a high inflation reading expected for December.

JS Global said the stock market remained under pressure for the most part of the trading session as cement, steel and refinery sectors failed to generate volumes.

The buyback activity in the shares of Bank Alfalah managed to garner a decent turnover, however. “Going forward, investors are advised to trade cautiously,” it said.

Delays in the overdue review of the loan programme by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also hurt investors’ sentiments. “Lack of confidence over Pakistan’s economy and a delayed IMF programme led the market to witness profit-taking as the market made an intraday low of 449 points,” said Topline Securities.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 39,802.91 points, down 352.25 points or 0.88 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 4.6pc to 153.7 million shares. The traded value went up 7.8pc to Rs5.1 billion on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Bank Alfalah Ltd (16.3m shares), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (12.4m shares), the Bank of Punjab Ltd (7.7m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (7.2m shares) and TRG Pakistan Ltd (5.1m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs559.85), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs347.88), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs64.67), Blessed Textiles Ltd (Rs10.32) and Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs10).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs119.90), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs79.83), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs66.56), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs50.87) and Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs29).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.97m.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2022