KARACHI: The stock market witnessed a downward trend in share prices on Monday owing to political and economic unrest, said Arif Habib Ltd.

The benchmark index traded in the red zone as the rupee continued to depreciate against the dollar. The local currency lost 0.66 per cent value on a day-on-day basis to close at 229.88 against the greenback.

Investors’ participation remained dull as main-board volumes stayed dry. The unending uncertainty over the election of the Punjab chief minister is unnerving investors who’re holding back on value buying.

“Going forward, the market is expected to remain negative due to the current political scenario and delay in the finalisation of deal with the International Monetary Fund. We recommend investors should stay cautious as we believe the market may test the 38,100-point level,” JS Global.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 39,844.02 points, down 233.28 points or 0.58pc from a day ago.

The trading volume decreased 56pc to 75.4 million shares while the traded value went down 61.3pc to $8m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included TPL Properties Ltd (9.75m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (9.31m shares), Lotte Chemical Ltd (7.99m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (7.89m shares) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (3.51m shares).

Sectors contributing negatively to the index performance included banking (110.4 points), fertiliser (37.5 points), technology (27.7 points), investment banking (19.1 points) and power (18 points).

Shares registering the highest losses in percentage terms were Quetta Textile Mills Ltd (11.11pc), KASB Modaraba (10.12pc), Cordoba Logistics & Ventures Ltd-R (7.98pc), Bata Pakistan Ltd (7.5pc) and Premium Textile Mills Ltd (7.5pc).

Stocks that recorded the biggest gains in percentage terms were Premier Insurance Ltd (20pc), Hashimi Can Company Ltd (12.5pc), Redco Textiles Ltd (11.61pc), 786 Investments Ltd (10.56pc) and Zephyr Textiles Ltd (9.64pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.43m.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2022