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KARACHI: The stock market faltered after reaching an all-time near 119,000-barrier overnight, snapping a six-session winning streak and forcing the benchmark KSE 100 index to close in the red on profit-taking.
Topline Securities Ltd said the index traded between its intraday high of 636 points and low of 435 points to close at 118,442 level, marking a loss of 327.60 points or 0.28 per cent day-on-day.
The top positive contribution to the index came from Systems Ltd, Nishat Mills, Interloop Ltd, Millat Tractors and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, as they cumulatively contributed 222 points to the index. Conversely, Fauji Fertiliser, Hub Power, Lucky Cement, Mari Energies, and United Bank shaved off 344 points.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market came under selling pressure after the government raised profit rates on National Savings Schemes (NSS) despite a status quo in the SBP policy rate.
He said the weak rupee, economic uncertainty amid Large-Scale Manufacturing contracting by 1.8pc in 7MFY25, and concerns for pending IMF approvals of relief on industrial power tariff turned investors sentiments bearish.
Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said the index, for the first time, broke the 119,000 psychological barrier to hit an all-time intraday high at 119,406 as investors did cherry-picking in the blue-chip stocks with some diversity.
However, some profit-taking ahead of the rollover week starting from Monday compelled the index to push below the 119,000 territory and ultimately led to a close on a negative note.
Market participation was subdued as the trading volume plunged 44.73pc to 369.11 million shares while the traded value tumbled 39.58pc to Rs23.27bn day-on-day.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Cnergyico PK (49.08m shares), Pakistan Refinery (27.36m shares), Fauji Foods (26.35m shares), The Bank of Punjab (18.34m shares) and Sui Southern Gas Company (13.17m shares).
The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Foods (Rs165.56), Rafhan Maize (61.94), Sapphire Textile (41.68), Bela Automotives (15.17) and Nestle Pakistan (14.63).
Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2025
