KARACHI: The benchmark of the shares market settled just above the psychological level of 45,000 points after a daylong tug of war between the bulls and the bears on Tuesday.

Topline Securities said it was the fourth consecutive session that closed on a negative note since July 13.

Mixed signals from the economic front kept trading adrift, with the day’s highlight being the rupee that lost 1.34 per cent value against the dollar in interbank trading. The likely reasons could be higher interbank payments and the subsequent pressure in the open market.

Arif Habib Ltd said consecutive declines for four sessions for a cumulative decline of 2.4pc has pushed “latecomers” underwater on their positions. The opportunity to buy in a down market is now rapidly diminishing, it added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 45,009.34 points, down 33.27 points or 0.07pc from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased 19pc to 254.9 million shares. The traded value went up 8.1pc to Rs7.3bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included the Bank of Punjab Ltd (29.9m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (22.8m shares), Waves Home Appliances Ltd (8.6­m shares), BankIslami Pakistan Ltd (7.6m shares) and Avanceon Ltd (7.6m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs74.59), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs74.48), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs55), Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs19.19) and Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (Rs9.85).

Companies that recor­ded the biggest dec­lines in their share prices in absolute terms were Khairpur Sugar Mills, Pak­istan Ser­vices, Archroma Pak­istan, Sitara Chemical and Bata Pakistan.

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $2.5m.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023