KARACHI: Bears maintained a firm grip on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for the third consecutive session on Thursday, dragging the benchmark KSE 100 share index below the 71,000 level amid persisting gloomy conditions.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said unabated institutional profit-taking continued to fuel bearish sentiments after a slump in global crude oil prices and dismal external trade data.

Exports fell 9pc month-on-month to $2.35bn in April, while the trade deficit more than doubled to $2.374bn from $846m in the same month last year.

He added that uncertainty about talks with the International Monetary Fund for a new $8bn Extended Fund Facility, weak earnings outlook amid surging energy prices and reports of disagreement among coalition partners on the privatisation policy contributed to a bearish close.

Topline Securities Ltd said sectors such as technology and fertiliser contributed to the index’s decline, with TRG Pakistan, Fauji Fertiliser Company, Engro Fertilisers, Engro Corpo­ration and Systems Ltd collectively wiping out 248 points. Conversely, Bank Alfalah Ltd, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, and Interloop Ltd added 103 points.

As a result, the index hit an intraday high of 71,292.83 and a low of 70,562.12. However, it closed at 70,657.64 points after shedding 444.91 points, or 0.63pc, from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume dipped 22.04pc to 436.99 million shares. The traded value also fell 26.06pc to Rs19.02bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric (30.10m shares), Worldcall Telecom (25.12m shares), The Bank of Punjab (20.16m shares), Pakistan Inter­national Airlines (15.72m shares) and Faysal Bank Ltd (14.05m shares).

The shares registering the most significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakitan Foods Ltd (Rs717.85), Hallmark Company Ltd (Rs86.15), Sapphire Textile Ltd (Rs34.90), Mari Petroleum (Rs31.65) and Pak Tobacco (Rs23.79).

The companies registering the major increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres (Rs56.42), Khyber Tobacco (Rs20.25), Atlas Honda (Rs16.72), Ghand­hara Ind (Rs15.86) and Bolan Castings (Rs9.48).

Foreign investors continued aggressive buying as their net purchases of shares stood at $2.85m.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2024