KARACHI: Extending the overnight losses, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained under selling pressure dragging the benchmark KSE 100-share index below the 67,000 level on Monday.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said a slowdown in GDP growth to 1pc in the second quarter of the current fiscal year compared to 2.2pc in the same period last year worried investors who resorted to taking profits at the current levels.

He said that the widening of the trade deficit by 56.3pc year-on-year to $2.171bn in March, speculations about the outcome of Pakistan-IMF talks on April 14, and investor concerns about surging industrial power tariffs further fuelled the market downtrend.

Topline Securities Ltd said throughout the session, the index displayed a mixed performance, hitting intraday highs and lows at 67,304 and 66,741 points, respectively.

Oil & gas, IT, textile and cement sectors contributed negatively to the index’s movement as Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd, Systems Ltd, PTCL, Lucky Cement and Interloop Ltd collectively wiped out 133 points.

However, Hub Power Company, Meezan Bank Ltd and Faysal Bank Ltd contributed positively, adding 67 points to the index.

As a result, the KSE-100 index closed at 66,796.32 points after losing 208.79 points, or 0.31 per cent, from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume dipped 23.70pc to 238.82.03 million shares. The traded value also fell by 15.49pc to Rs8.36bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (39.96m shares), Agritech Ltd (31.10m shares), Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (21.23m shares), Pak Reinsurance Ltd (15.08m shares) and WorldCall Telecom Ltd (13.09m shares).

The shares registering the most significant inc­reases in their share prices in absolute terms were Rafhan Maize Prod­ucts Company Ltd (Rs75.00), Hallmark Com­pany Ltd (Rs34.42), Shah­murad Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs31.47), Sazgar Engi­neering Company Ltd (Rs26.79) and Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs20.00).

The companies registering the major decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs95.00), Mari Petroleum Ltd (Rs19.48), Service Indus­tries Ltd (Rs14.99), Pac­kages Ltd (Rs14.98) and Lucky Core Industries Ltd (Rs11.92).

Foreign investors turned net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.04m.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2024