KARACHI: The share market on Monday again failed to sustain a bullish beginning as investors resorted to profit-taking in the late hours of the trading session due to pre-poll uncertainties as a result the benchmark KSE 100-share index closed in the red amid contracting volumes.

Topline Securities Ltd said in early trading, the equities exhibited a positive trend reaching an intraday peak of 65,174. However, as the trading session unfolded, sellers entered the market, leading to a gradual decline in the earlier gains.

Consequently, Engro Fertilisers Ltd, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Systems Ltd, Lucky Cement and D.G. Khan Cement negatively contributed 157 points to the index’s performance.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed bearish amid pre-poll uncertainty and concerns over the outcome of ongoing Senate resolutions seeking postponement of general elections, which are scheduled to be held on Feb 8.

“Political noise and uncertainty over the SBP policy rate announcement this month amid high inflation played a catalyst role in the bearish close.

The intraday high was recorded at 65,173.87 (gaining 536.23 points) and the low at 64,130.96 points (506.68 points). However, the KSE-100 index closed at 64,269.38 points after losing 368.26 points or 0.57 per cent from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume, however, plunged by 40.61.67pc to 382.01.30 million shares. The traded value also dipped by 29.69pc to Rs14.07bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Electric Ltd (55.03m shares), Pakis­tan International Bulk Terminal (37.65m shares), Worldcall Telecom Ltd (25.00m shares) Fauji Foods Ltd (23.38m shares) and Oil and Gas Development Com­p­any Ltd (18.59m shares).

Companies registering the biggest decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan (Rs200.00), Rafhan Maize (Rs150.00), Unilever Pakistan Ltd (Rs102.00), Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (Rs60.16) and Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs43.50).

Shares registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Philip Morris (Rs44.34), Pakistan Hotel Developers Ltd (Rs33.94), Pakistan National Shipp­ing Corporation (Rs22.11), JDW Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs18.00) and Colgat-Palmolive (Pakistan) Ltd (Rs9.39).

Foreign investors were net buyers as they bought shares worth $0.29m.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2024