KARACHI: Despite initially beginning the week with a bullish tone, the equities came under late selling pressure on Monday, forcing the KSE 100 index to close in the red amid IMF uncertainty and mounting political tensions.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower amid a slump in global equities and concerns about political noise.

He said uncertainty over IMF approvals on the Rs2.8tr funding plan to resolve circular debt crises and expectations over cautious State Bank of Pakistan policy to cut key interest rate at the Monetary Policy Committee’s Sept 12 meeting also contributed to the bearish close.

Topline Securities Ltd said the decline was primarily attributed to Millat Tractors, Hub Power, Uni­ted Bank, Habib Bank and Meezan Bank, which acco­u­nted for a 354 points drop.

The shares registering the most significant incre­ases in their prices in absolute terms were Haleon Pakistan (Rs41.13), Service Industries (Rs29.37), Hallmark Company (Rs24.31), Mari Petroleum (Rs16.85) and Shifa International (Rs12.12).

As a result, the KSE index hit an intraday high of 79,214.28 and a low of 78,545.69. However, it settled at 78,615.00 after losing 282.72 points or 0.36pc day-on-day.

The trading volume plunged 33.90pc to 491.12 million shares, while the traded value fell 21.5pc to Rs10.12bn day-on-day.Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom (86.00m shares), Kohinoor Spinning Mills (42.93m shares), Pace Pak Ltd (37.26m shares), Trust Modaraba (33.75m shares) and Waves Home Appliances (32.95m shares).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Pak Engineering (Rs39.02), Rafhan Maize (Rs48.12), Sazgar Engineering Works Ltd (Rs42.57), Sapphire Textile (Rs41.94) and Millat Tractors (Rs39.02).

Foreign investors turned net sellers as they sold shares worth $1.75m.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2024