KARACHI: The stock market on Friday remained choppy where the KSE-100 index moved between the intra-day high and low of 188 points (positive) and 114 points (negative).

The index settled at 45,931 points to represent loss for the day at 58.35 points or 0.13 per cent.

The second session in the red after Friday’s fall was thought to suggest consolidation of the market at the current levels after an untiring bull run for months on end.

The market mood was also thought to have clouded on several negatives including the dip in international oil prices; reports suggesting that the government was weighing options of increase in power tariff in phased manner to revive the stalled International Monetary Fund programme.

Moreover, the spectre of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related discussion resurfaced with Pakis­tan’s position to come under scrutiny over the compliance with 27-agenda action plan by February 2021. Since that would coincide with the quarterly results reporting season, investors were concerned that the FATF would overshadow the positive impact of the better-than-expected corporate profitability results.

On Friday, investors booked profit in cement, banks and oil & gas marketing companies sectors. Cement sector also succumbed to selling pressure where stocks such as Lucky, Pioneer, Cherat, D. G. Khan and Gharibwal lost values.

Other cyclical steel stocks performed well in relative terms on the back of expectation of an increase in product prices. The mini-rally on the refinery sector with the National Refinery Ltd (NRL) as the lead gainer, came to an end as the entire sector went downhill.

Price decline was seen in Pakistan Refinery Ltd, down 1.0pc, Byco Petroleum 1.0pc, Attock Refinery Ltd 0.7pc and NRL 3.5pc.

Traders are expecting scintillating results in the textile sector due to stellar growth in exports. Gadoon Textile for the second day closed at the upper circuit.

Volumes declined 15pc over the previous session to 531.1 million shares while the traded value also fell by 10pc to Rs19.8 billion. Scrips that were a drag on the index included MCB Bank Ltd, down 22 points, Habib Bank Ltd 20 points, Pakistan Tobacco 18 points, Lucky Cement 11 points and Engro Fertiliser 10 points.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2021