KARACHI: The stock market continued its downturn for a third consecutive session on Wednesday as nervous investors opted to take profits amid concerns about harsh budgetary measures.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said the market fell sharply lower amid ongoing rumours of higher capital market tax measures in the budget 2024-25 and uncertainty over SBP’s policy rate stance.

He added that political noise and dismal data on fertiliser offtake for May also contributed to a bearish close.

In its market report, Topline Securities Ltd noted that the negative trajectory was primarily influenced by weaknesses in the banking and exploration sectors. Companies such as Habib Bank Ltd, Oil and Gas Development Company, Bank Alfalah Ltd, Bank Al-Habib Ltd, and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd contributed 225 points to the index negatively.

However, some positive movements were recorded from Engro Fertilisers, Faysal Bank, and TRG Pakistan, cumulatively adding 37 points.

As a result, the benchmark index hit an intraday high of 74,758.11 and a low of 74,136.52. However, the KSE 100 index settled at 74,219.44 points after losing 447.22 points or 0.60pc on a day-on-day basis.

However, the overall trading volume fell further by 15.90pc to 348.54 million shares. The traded value also dipped 10.49pc to Rs16.38bn day-on-day.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included K-Ele­ctric (25.28m shares), Amtex Ltd (23.58m shares), WorldCall Telecom (16.06m shares), National Bank (14.25m shares) and Dewan Farooque Motors (14.21m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Exide Pakistan (Rs39.93), Sazgar Engineering (Rs27.95), Ismail Industries (Rs25.66), Atlas Battery (Rs22.38) and Hafiz Ltd (Rs12.42).

The companies registering the major decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs115.03), Hallmark Company (Rs31.74), Pakistan Engineering (Rs20.30), Fateh Industries (Rs14.31) and Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs12.93).

Foreign investors remained net buyers as they bought shares worth $0.61m.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2024