KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) extended overnight losses on Tuesday amid rising geopolitical tensions after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, sending crude oil prices to nearly $100 a barrel.

According to Topline Securities Ltd, the developing scenario panicked investors who indulged in hasty selling. As a result, the benchmark KSE 100 index saw an intra-day low of 664 points, but late value-hunting helped the benchmark index trim early losses.

As a result, the KSE-100 index lost 350.68 points or 0.77pc on a day-on-day basis to close at 45,012.18 points.

The situation also weighed on the currency market, where the local currency came under pressure, reversing the overnight trend by losing around 0.27pc against the US dollar in the inter-bank market.

Heavy selling was witnessed in cement and technology stocks, where TRG Pakistan and System Ltd wiped out 109 points from the index.

Arif Habib Ltd said the market remained under pressure due to mounting international oil prices as the New York’s West Texas Intermediate crude contract rose more than 3pc on Tuesday.

However, cherry-picking in the last trading hour led to the recovery of the market from steep losses. The activity, however, continued to remain sideways as the market witnessed hefty volumes in the third-tier stocks.

Sectors that dragged the index lower included technology and communication (124.17 points), cement (54.10 points) and fertiliser (40.52 points).

Company-wise, the top losers were led by TRG Pakistan Ltd (81.74 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (31.26 points) and Systems Ltd (27.83 points).

The traded volume and value for the day increased by 63pc and 111pc on a day-on-day basis to 226m shares and Rs7.62bn, respectively.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WorldCall Ltd, the Bank of Punjab, Telecard Ltd, TRG and TPL Properties Ltd.

Mutual funds offloaded shares worth $3.85m followed by foreign investors who were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.77m. At attractive valuations, the companies picked up shares worth $3m followed by banks $1.21m and individuals $0.9m.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2022