KARACHI: The arrival of the much-needed and long-awaited $1.1 billion tranche from the International Monetary Fund into the SBP accounts on Tuesday failed to boost investors’ mood as the benchmark KSE 100 index yielded another gloomy performance.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market extended its overnight bearish conditions, reacting to the central bank’s maintaining a tight monetary stance due to still-high inflation, geopolitical risks and pending fiscal measures.

He added that the IMF’s conditions for pursuing structural reforms in the energy sector and falling earnings in the oil, cement and auto sectors also contributed to the bearish close.

Topline Securities Ltd said selling pressure was observed during the latter part of the session as corporate result announcements showed a decline in earnings.

Pakistan Petroleum Ltd, Bank Al-Habib, Fauji Fertiliser, Millat Tractors, and Kot Addu Power made a significant positive contribution, cumulatively adding 134 points to the index.

On the other hand, Systems Ltd, United Bank Ltd, TRG Pakistan, Dawood Hercules, and Engro Fertilisers collectively lost 309 points.

As a result, the index hit an intraday record high of 72,119.66 and a low of 71,059.63. However, it closed at 71,102.55 points after losing 592.49 points, or 0.83pc, from the preceding session.

The overall trading volume fell 8.60pc to 560.55 million shares. The traded value also dipped 2.21pc to Rs25.73bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Worldcall Telecom (47.68m shares), Pace (Pak) Ltd (27.12m shares), Pak Petroleum (23.16m shares), Hascol Petroleum (22.72m shares) and Air Link Commun (22.16m shares).

The shares registering the most significant decre­ases in their share prices in absolute terms were Hallmark Company Ltd (Rs90.02), Sapphire Fibres Ltd (Rs69.12), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs41.06), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs37.49) and Philip Morris (Pakistan) Ltd (Rs26.33).

The companies registering the major increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs446.29), Al-Abbas Sug­ar Mills Ltd (Rs43.53), Atlas Honda (Rs32.29), Pak Engi­n­e­ering Company (Rs20.00) and Pak Tobacco (Rs14.86).

Foreign investors made aggressive buying as their net purchases of shares soared to $2.96m.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024