KARACHI: Stock prices dropped on Friday as investors worried about the lack of clarity on the revival of the loan programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Arif Habib Ltd said the index of representative stocks opened in the green zone but bears soon took over in view of the rollover week in which futures contracts are either settled or rolled over to the next month.

“The market remained choppy throughout the day as investors kept a cautious trading approach owing to political noise along with no clarity from the IMF board for the release of the ninth tranche of the IMF Extended Fund Facility,” it said.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,707.76 points, down 130.75 points or 0.32 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 2.1pc to 153.4 million shares. The traded value went down 13.8pc to $19.1m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (35.1m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (10.5m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (7m shares), the Hub Power Company Ltd (5.3m shares) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (5.2m shares).

Sectors contributing negatively to the index performance were commercial banking (112.3 points), exploration and production (41.5 points), technology and communication (29.9 points), oil marketing (26.2 points) and glass and ceramics (8.2 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Food Ltd (Rs1,317.50), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs490), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs128.48), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs87.91) and Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs47.89).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs43.99), Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs29.09), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs23.49), Saofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs12.45) and Sitara Chemical Industries Ltd (Rs11.38).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.43m.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2023