KARACHI: Share prices moved in a small band on Friday before closing in the negative territory as investors exercised caution around the index level of 45,000 points, said Topline Securities.

According to Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation, stocks closed lower amid concerns over dismal data on the large-scale manufacturing output, rising yields on government papers and a hike in the industrial power tariff.

Investors’ worries about soaring external debt and the fact that further disbursements under the recently signed $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are conditional on reviews by the lender also hurt sentiments.

The expectations of a tight monetary policy as well as market-based foreign exchange management played the role of a catalyst in the bearish close, he said.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 45,067.98 points, down 198.98 points or 0.44 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume decreased by 45.3pc to 267.5 million shares. The traded value went down 53.3pc to Rs6.7bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Telecard Ltd (31.1m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (20m shares), K-Electric Ltd (19.4m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (19.1m shares) and BankIslami Pakistan Ltd (11.6m shares).

Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs100.29), Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs30), Mehmood Textile Mills Ltd (Rs27.25), Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs13.80) and Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs13.55).

Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs901), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs33.98), Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs22.53), Gadoon Textile Mills Ltd (Rs14.15) and Service Industries Ltd (Rs9.49).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.25m.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2023