KARACHI: Stock prices oscillated in a short range on Tuesday before settling on the lower side.

Topline Securities said investors opted to remain on the sidelines in the absence of any positive trigger.

Energy stocks continued to see profit-taking while selected stocks in food, fertiliser, banking, technology and communication and textile sectors witnessed fresh buying. The buying could be attributed to attractive valuations and better dividend yields, it added.

Arif Habib Ltd said unending political unrest led to sluggish participation from the investors throughout the trading ses­sion. Volumes remai­ned decent across the boa­rd while third-tier equities led the volume board.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,099.31 points, down 95.76 points or 0.23 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 24pc to 91.5 million shares. The traded value went down 17pc to $8.3m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (23.2m shar­­es), K-Electric Ltd (8.5m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (3.7m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (3.5m shares) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (3.3m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were exploration and production (-32.3 points), commercial banking (-19.4 points), power generation and distribution (-17.2 points), oil marketing (-16.1 points) and cement (-13.3 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs1,600), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs35), Gadoon Tex­tile Mills Ltd (Rs15.02), Colgate-Palmolive Pakis­tan Ltd (Rs13.65) and Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs8.83).

Companies that recor­d­­ed the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pak­istan Ltd (Rs86.67), Pak­­istan Tobacco Com­p­a­­ny Ltd (Rs18.51), Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs17.22), Pakistan Oxygen Ltd (Rs5.52) and Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs5.36).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloa­ded shares worth $0.05m.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2023