KARACHI: The representative index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange moved within a short range on Thursday amid sluggish activity throughout the session.

Arif Habib Ltd said investors opted to remain on the sidelines on account of the long delay in the signing of a staff-level agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund for the release of $1.1bn tranche. In addition, prevailing political uncertainty also affected investors’ confidence, it added.

Some bottom fishing in cement stocks was witnessed towards the end of the session, which made the index recover some of the lost ground, according to JS Global.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 39,848.35 points, down 31.54 points or 0.08 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 18.5pc to 88.7 million shares. The traded value went up 24.1pc to $14m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Telecard Ltd (6.2m shares), Pak Elektron Ltd (6.1m shares), Engro Corporation Ltd (5.4m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (4.9m shares) and Agha Steel Industries Ltd (3.6m shares).

Sectors contributing negatively to the index performance were miscellaneous (37.9 points), technology and communication (23.4 points), investment banking (12.8 points), fertiliser (12.6 points) and food and personal care products (8.8 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs89.42), Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs36.15), Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs27.72), Abbott Laboratories Ltd (Rs20.16) and Al-Ghazi Tractors Ltd (Rs17.08).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs126.10), Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs102.33), Sapphire Fib­res Ltd (Rs82.22), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs69.10) and Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs36.43).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.65m.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2023