KARACHI: Trading on the Pakistan Stock Exch­ange opened on a negative note on Tuesday and suffered volatility throughout the session owing to concerns over depleting foreign exchange reserves and a hike in the key interest rate.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, the stock market remained under pressure as investors opted to stay on the sidelines until further clarity on the political and economic fronts.

“Going forward, we recommend investors remain cautious at current levels,” said JS Global, noting that the current political situation and uncertainty over the resumption of the Inter­national Monetary Fund loan programme have shattered investors’ confidence.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,950.32 points, down 489.93 points or 1.15 per cent from a day ago.

The trading volume increased 42.6pc to 169.7 million shares while the traded value went up 52.7pc to $27.1m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan Refinery Ltd (15.74m shares), Silkbank Ltd (14.66m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (10.6m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (9m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (8.29m shares).

Sectors that took away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included commercial banking (108.77 points), technology and communication (74.79 points), cement (72.12 points), fertiliser (56.2 points) and chemical (25.01 points).

Shares contributing most negatively to the index included Systems Ltd (95.27 points), United Bank Ltd (47.54 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (35.02 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (31.83 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (21.78 points).

Stocks that contributed most positively to the index included TRG Pakistan Ltd (19.24 points), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (7.18 points), Habib Bank Ltd (4.98 points), Indus Motor Company Ltd (3.15 points) and Fries­landcampina Engro Pakistan Ltd (2.64 points).

Stocks that registered the largest decline in percentage terms were Systems Ltd (7.1pc), Thal Ltd (6.1pc), Aisha Steel Mills Ltd (5.31pc), Mughal Iron and Steel Industries Ltd (4.84pc) and Gadoon Textile Mills Ltd (4.64pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.51m.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2022