KARACHI: Pakistani shares extended losses to the third straight day on Thursday amid falling trading volume, thanks to mounting political noise and uncertainty about the economic outlook.

Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed under pressure on institutional profit-taking in blue-chis banking and oil scrips.

He said falling banking spreads amid easing monetary policy, surging unresolved power sector circular debt, and uncertainty over the rollover of $15 billion dues of Chinese independent power producers contributed to the bearish close.

Topline Securities Ltd, in its report, said the market’s downtrend was driven by declines in sectors such as exploration and production and banking, with significant contributions from companies including United Bank Ltd, Bank Alfalah, Mari Petroleum, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd and Bank Al-Habib, which together accounted for a 229-point drop.

As a result, the benchmark index hit an intraday high of 78,241.02 points and a low of 77,595.93. However, the index continued its downturn and settled at 77,740.31 after losing another 146.68 points or 0.19pc on a day-on-day basis.

The overall trading volume fell 27.08pc to 278.98 million shares. The traded value also dipped 10.54pc to Rs13.09bn on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Hascol Petroleum (26.70m shares), WorldCall Telecom (21.81m shares), Waves Home Appliances (13.52m shares), Fauji Cement (11.54m shares) and The Organic Meat (10.50m shares).

The shares registering the most significant increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Sapphire Fibres (Rs98.14), The Premier Sugar (Rs46.00), Sazgar Engineering Works (Rs39.47), Leiner Pak Gelatine (Rs25.53) and Ghandhara Automobiles Ltd (Rs20.07).

The companies registering significant decreases in their share prices in absolute terms were Nestle Pakistan (Rs65.50), Mehmood Textile (Rs60.95), Rafhan Maize (Rs60.00), Ismail Industries (Rs41.30) and Mari Petroleum (Rs32.86).

Foreign investors turned net buyers as they purchased shares worth $0.17m.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2024