KARACHI: After brea­king a four-session losing streak overnight, the sto­ck market on Wednesday struggled as investor sentiment remained mixed due to a lack of positive triggers, forcing the benchmark KSE 100 index into the red zone on late profit selling.

Topline Securities Ltd said the stock market had a range-bound session, with the benchmark index moving between a high of 583 points and a low of 598 points. It ultimately closed at 112,254 points, marking a decline of 490 points or 0.43 per cent day-on-day.

The upward movement was mainly driven by En­­gro Holdings, Tariq Glass Industries Ltd, Lucky Ce­­ment, Pakistan Interna­tio­nal Bulk Terminal (PIBTL), and Nestle Pakistan, contributing 155 points to the index together. Converse­­ly, Engro Fertiliser, Fauji Fertiliser, and PSO took away 181 points.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation noted that the market fell shar­p­­ly lower in sympathy with a sell-off in Asian markets and a slump in global cru­de oil prices after the Tru­mp administration impo­sed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, triggering a tariff war.

Ali Najib, Head of Sales at Insight Securities, said the finance minister’s com­­­ment that Pakistan was “well positioned” for the ongoing IMF review boo­s­t­­ed investor confiden­­ce, le­­ading to buying in ini­­­tial trading hours. How­ever, above the 113,000 level, some investors opt­ed to book profits, wiping out early gains.

The overall market acti­vity remained bearishly inclined, although trading volume rose 27.61pc to 263.96 million shares while the traded value increased 21.11pc to Rs13.73bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan In­­t­ernational Bulk Termi­nal (53.57m shares), Wor­ld­Call Telecom (23.56m shares), Power Cement (10.97m sha­­res), Fauji Ce­­ment (8.50m shares) and Maple Leaf Cement (8.04m shares).

The shares registering the most significant incre­ases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nest­­le Pakistan (Rs149.20), Sa­­pphire Textile (Rs88.40), Sapphire Fibres (Rs35.49), Reliance Cotton (Rs25.70) and Al-Abbas Sugar (Rs21.94).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in ab­­solute terms were Raf­han Maize (Rs115.00), Hoe­ch­­st Pakistan (Rs80.83), Uni-lever Foods (Rs64.85), PIA Holding Co [B] (Rs53.49) and Mehmood Textile (Rs36.46). Mutual funds and individuals turned net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.48m and $1.86m, respectively.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2025