KARACHI: Bulls overpowered the bears on the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday as investors welcomed the news about the country eyeing a $3 billion loan from China, according to Arif Habib Ltd. The news has since been denied by the finance ministry.

The index stayed in the green zone throughout the day, although activity remained sideways with the market witnessing hefty volumes in third-tier stocks. In the last trading hour, however, profit-taking was witnessed owing to a rising number of Covid-19 cases.

As a result, the KSE-100 index added 296.77 points or 0.66 per cent to 45,374.68 points.

Market participation decr­e­ased 2.8pc to 251.7 million shares while the value of traded shares went up 5.4pc to $48.5m.

Sectors that contributed the highest number of points to the benchmark index included commercial banking (67.21 points), fertiliser (41 points), food and personal care (35.22 points), technology and communication (33.36 points) and oil and gas exploration (29.78 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Treet Corporation Ltd (22.93m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (22.49m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (18.12m shares), Waves Singer Ltd (17.14m shares) and Hum Network Ltd (15.61m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Bank AL Habib Ltd (54.02 points), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (30.61 points), TRG Pakistan Ltd (23.62 points), Unity Foods Ltd (21.93 points) and Pakistan Services Ltd (21.43 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Adamjee Insurance Company Ltd (7.98 points), Meezan Bank Ltd (7.79 points), Engro Polymer Chemical Ltd (6.96 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (6.39 points) and International Steels Ltd (5.61 points).

Stocks recording the biggest increases in percentage terms included Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd, which went up 7.13pc, followed by Unity Foods Ltd (6.53pc), Azgard Nine Ltd (4.56pc), EFU General Insurance Ltd (4.28pc) and Bank AL Habib Ltd (4.14pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.054m.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2022