KARACHI: The delay in the announcement about the resumption of the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme caused frenzy among stock market investors in the outgoing week.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, the economic outlook looked grim as the rupee came under immense pressure once again. Rising inflation and the local currency going down to Rs175.73 a dollar against Rs170.01 in the week before also hurt the investors’ sentiments.

Therefore, the benchmark index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange closed at 45,749 points after losing 1,547 points or 3.3 per cent from a week ago.

Sector-wise, negative contributions to the KSE-100 index came from banking (277 points), cement (255 points), technology (226 points), exploration and production (140 points) and engineering (90 points).

Sectors that contributed positively to the benchmark were fertiliser (37 points) and glass and ceramics (three points).

Scrip-wise, negative contributors to the KSE-100 index were TRG Pakistan Ltd (140 points), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (73 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (70 points), Lucky Cement Ltd (65 points) and United Bank Ltd (65 points).

Shares that contributed positively to the index were Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (48 points), Engro Fertilisers (17 points) and Allied Bank Ltd (nine points).

Foreign selling maintained its pace in the outgoing week and amounted to $5.3 million versus a net sale of $11.2m a week ago. Major selling was witnessed in commercial banking ($7.6m) and cement ($3m) sectors.

On the local front, segments reporting a net buy were companies ($6.5m) and insurance ($5.7m).

The average daily trading volume was 316m shares, down 26pc from a week ago. The average daily traded value remained $63m after decreasing 29pc on a week-on-week basis.

According to AKD Securities, an agreement with the IMF will provide a much-needed trigger for the stock market going forward.

However, political uncertainty still exists with regard to the opposition parties threatening to stage protests across the country.

“The other key factor influencing the market performance is monetary policy, which is due to be announced towards the end of the month,” it said, noting that investors should go for “thematic plays” such as banks (on monetary tightening), construction-driven sectors like cement and steel, and textile companies (on devaluation and strong export prospects).

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2021