KARACHI: Trading began on a positive note on Monday at the Pakistan Stock Exchange but a lack of investors’ involvement quickly drove the representative index of the listed companies down to the red zone.

Arif Habib Ltd said stocks hovered on the lower side for the most part of the trading session. Share prices kept swinging in both directions before eventually closing in the red. Investors chose to stay on the sidelines owing to the ongoing delay in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of a $7 billion loan package.

Volumes on the mainboard remained thin while third-tier companies dominated the trading session.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 39,835.90 points, down 213.75 points or 0.53 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 21.6pc to 105.9 million shares. The traded value went down 43.1pc to $6.4m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (34.1m shares), JS Bank Ltd (10.3m shares), K-Electric Ltd (5.6m shares), Telecard Ltd (5.5m shares) and Fauji Cement Company Ltd (2.8m shares).

Sectors contributing negatively to the index performance were cement (39 points), exploration and production (37.2 points), miscellaneous (34.9 points), technology and communication (33.8 points) and commercial banking (27.2 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs39.80), Murree Brewery Company Ltd (Rs14.85), Faisal Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs14), Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs13.58) and Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs10).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs75.55), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs66.06), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs47.65), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs28.27) and Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs24.90).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.04m.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2023