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Stocks lose 519 points on interest rate hike fears
KARACHI: Rising inflation and the expectation of monetary tightening kept the stock market in the red zone on Monday.
Trading remained lacklustre as cyclical stocks stayed under pressure throughout the day, according to Arif Habib Ltd. A lack of positive triggers caused an across-the-board selling in the last hour of trading.
As a result, the KSE-100 index lost 519.41 points or 1.2 per cent to close at 42,876.37 points.
A Bloomberg report said the benchmark index is hovering close to its lowest level since March 11.
Market participation decreased 16.1pc to 150.3 million shares while the value of traded shares also went down 21.7pc to $29.6m.
Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included technology and communication (147.49 points), oil and gas exploration (88.37 points), commercial banking (71.99 points), food and personal care (39.19 points) and cement (28.14 points).
Stocks that contributed significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (18.33m shares), Byco Petroleum Ltd (7.3m shares), Fatima Fertiliser Company Ltd (7m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (6.79m shares) and Hascol Petroleum Ltd (6.72m shares).
Shares contributing positively to the index were Bank AL Habib Ltd (20.28 points), Engro Fertilisers Ltd (17.74 points), Habib Metropolitan Bank Ltd (13.92 points), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (9.1 points) and Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan Ltd (8.66 points).
Stocks that took away the maximum points from the index included TRG Pakistan Ltd (75.15 points), Systems Ltd (61.22 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (38.39 points), United Bank Ltd (33.88 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (33.56 points).
Stocks recording the biggest declines in percentage terms included Azgard Nine Ltd, which went down 8.03pc, followed by Bannu Woollen Mills Ltd (7.37pc), TRG Pakistan Ltd (6.95pc), Jahangir Siddiqui and Company Ltd (6.48pc) and Nestle Pakistan Ltd (5.87pc).
Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $3.29m on a net basis.
Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021
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