KARACHI: Lack of certainty on political and economic fronts put a damper on the mood of stock investors on Thursday.

Arif Habib Ltd said the representative index of listed companies opened on the higher side and traded within a narrow range throughout the day. It reached an intraday high of 244.99 points as investors waited for the announcement of a staff-level agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the $7 billion loan revival.

But the rising political temperature in Lahore led to dull market participation. Low volumes were recorded across the board as investors booked profit by the end of trading.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,694.09 points, down 179.95 points or 0.43 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume increased 0.6pc to 234.7 million shares. The traded value went down 11.5pc to $26.4m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Telecard Ltd (14.2m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (11.9m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (11.8m shares), TPL Properties Ltd (9.5m shares) and AGP Ltd (8.3m shares).

Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were exploration and production (-114 points), miscellaneous (-67 points), technology and communication (-21.8 points), investment banking (-20.2 points) and power generation and distribution (-15.4 points).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs24.76), Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs20), Archroma Pakistan Ltd (Rs20), Blessed Textiles Ltd (Rs19.89) and Khyber Textile Mills Ltd (Rs14.46).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs180), Pakistan Services Ltd (Rs129.03), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs92.84), Ismail Industries Ltd (Rs32.60) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs17.85).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.21m.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2023