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Stocks lose 137 points in sluggish trading
KARACHI: The benchmark index opened on a positive note on Friday but failed to sustain its momentum owing to poor participation from investors, said Arif Habib Ltd.
The index traded in the red zone during the first part of the trading session. However, the benchmark moved in a narrow range during the latter part of the session. Main-board shares received dull trading volumes whereas healthy activity was observed in third-tier stocks.
The downgrade by an international ratings agency, fall in foreign exchange reserves and a slump in the value of the rupee also led to a bearish close, said analyst Ahsan Mehanti.
The Pakistani currency depreciated 0.02 per cent on a day-on-day basis to close at 218.43 against the greenback.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,948.50 points, down 137.22 points or 0.33pc from the preceding session.
The trading volume increased 47.9pc to 238.7 million shares while the traded value went down 0.6pc to $44m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (108.5m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (30.6m shares), G3 Technologies Ltd (22.5m shares), Ghani Global Holdings Ltd (13.9m shares) and G3 Technologies Ltd-Class B (10.3m shares).
Sectors that contributed to the index performance were technology (-70.5 points), tobacco (-19.1 points), refinery (-9 points), commercial banking (-6.8 points) and investment banking (-6.5 points).
Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs92.18), Sanofi-Aventis Pakistan Ltd (Rs73.50), Bhanero Textile Mills Ltd (Rs35), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs29.04) and Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs24.38).
Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs75.40), Pakistan Tobacco Ltd (Rs58.59), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs52.67), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs40) and Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs37.40).
Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $5.5m.
Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2022
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