KARACHI: Share prices dropped on the stock exchange on Friday as the prevailing political clamour plunged the KSE-100 by 487.67 points in an intraday low.

Arif Habib Ltd said the market remained under pressure throughout the day as investors opted to stay on the sidelines. Volumes in the main-board stocks declined whereas decent trading levels were recorded in third-tier stocks.

In addition to political uncertainty arising out of the PTI’s call for the long march to Islamabad for early elections, a slump in the rupee’s value against the dollar, global equity rout and a weak earnings outlook also played a role in the bearish close, according to analyst Ahsan Mehanti.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,140.34 points, down 462.5 points or 1.11 per cent from the preceding session.

The trading volume decreased 12.7pc to 177.8 million shares while the traded value went down 27.2pc to $20.9m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (25.7m shares), K-Electric Ltd (13.2m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (10.4m shares), Fauji Foods Ltd (7.4m shares) and Pakistan Refinery Ltd (7m shares).

Sectors that contributed to the index performance were cement (-74.6 points), exploration and production (-74.3 points), technology and communication (-66.7 points), oil and gas marketing (-46.8 points) and power generation and distribution (-39.8 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs81.46), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs46.01), Sapphire Textile Mills Ltd (Rs40.61), Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs22) and the Thal Industries Corporation Ltd (Rs10.01).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs140), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs29.18), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs28.04), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs21.57) and Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd (Rs17.90).

Foreign investors remain­­ed net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.85m.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2022