KARACHI: Selling pressure from foreign investors continued on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday as its benchmark index closed at 44,373 points, down 293 points, or 0.7 per cent, from a day ago.

High commodity prices, especially of coal, have had their bearing on cement and steel stocks with ripple effects on oil and gas marketing companies as well as the energy exploration and production sector, according to Arif Habib Ltd.

“A key conditionality from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the resumption of the loan programme has been the upward revision in the electricity tariff besides an end to subsidies and increase in tax revenues. These measures in part or whole are expected to dent earnings’ growth of the corporate sector in coming quarters, which is reflecting on stock prices as well,” it added.

Sectors that contributed to the index’s performance were cement (-91 points), textile (-36 points), banks (-35 points), technology (-30 points), fertiliser (-24 points) and exploration and production (36 points).

Ripple effects of selling in cyclicals as well as the oil and gas chain were observed in the overall market with significant selling pressure in TRG Pakistan. Unity Foods led the total traded volume with 25.7 million shares, followed by TeleCard (20.1m) and WorldCall Telecom (16.8m).

The overall traded volume declined 25pc day-on-day to 252.8m shares. The average traded value also declined 26pc to reach $59m.

Along with Unity Foods, TeleCard and WorldCall Tele­com, Treet Corporation and Byco Petroleum contributed 35pc to the total traded volume.

Stocks that contributed positively to the index included Mari Petroleum (43 points), United Bank Ltd (22 points), Millat Tractors Ltd (eight points), Colgate-Palmolive (five points) and National Foods (four points).

Stocks that contributed negatively were Habib Bank Ltd (28 points), Cherat Cement Company (24 points), Kohinoor Textile Mills (20 points), Lucky Cement (19 points) and Engro Corp (16 points).

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2021