KARACHI: The stock market continued to remain range-bound on Tuesday owing to the rising number of Covid-19 cases and higher international oil prices.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, investors resorted to profit-taking in the last hour of trading in anticipation of the upcoming monetary policy announcement as well as the meeting of the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board scheduled for Jan 28.

“Going forward, a buy-on-dips strategy is advised, especially in oil and gas exploration, oil marketing and fertiliser sectors,” said a note by JS Global.

The benchmark index lost 104.79 points or 0.23 per cent from a day ago to close at 45,507.41 points.

Market participation decreased 4.8pc to 165.1 million shares while the value of traded shares went up 23.9pc to $42.9m.

Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included cement (54.6 points), commercial banking (38.54 points), power generation and distribution (26.53 points), technology and communication (24.22 points) and textile (11.27 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included TRG Pakistan Ltd (20.68m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (17.67m shares), The Hub Power Company Ltd (8.14m shares), TeleCard Ltd (7.82m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (6.81m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (29.52 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (22.64 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (11.11 points), MCB Bank Ltd (9.31 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (6.39 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included The Hub Power Company Ltd (26.3 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (22.05 points), Bank AL Habib Ltd (18.84 points), Cherat Cement Company Ltd (12.69 points) and Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan Ltd (12.43 points).

Stocks recording the biggest declines in percentage terms included Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan Ltd, which went down 7.46pc, followed by IGI Holdings Ltd (4.4pc), Cherat Cement Company Ltd (3.07pc), Kohinoor Textile Mills Ltd (2.75pc) and GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Ltd (2.65pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded securities worth $2.247m.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022