KARACHI: Stock trading began on a lacklustre note on Friday as investors’ participation remained low owing to the country’s political turmoil.
But trading activity rose substantially as the session resumed following the prayer break with the bears dominating the KSE-100 index, said Arif Habib Ltd.
However, investors chose to add value to their portfolios during the final trading hour by cherry-picking stocks.
Volumes climbed considerably from the previous close because of the end of the rollover week in which futures contracts are either settled or pushed over to the next month. The cement sector, in particular, remained in the limelight.
As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 40,964.54 points, down 65.14 points or 0.16 per cent from the preceding session.
The overall trading volume increased 34.4pc to 168.5 million shares. The traded value went up 67.3pc to $23.8m on a day-on-day basis.
Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (10.3m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (9.79m shares), National Bank of Pakistan Ltd (6.68m shares), K-Electric Ltd (6.58m shares) and TPL Properties Ltd (6.15m shares).
Sectors contributing the most to the index performance were technology and communication (-73.4 points), exploration and production (-56.3 points), commercial banking (-41.7 points), oil marketing (-31.4 points) and pharmaceutical (-14.3 points).
Companies registering the biggest increases in their share prices in absolute terms were Bata Pakistan Ltd (Rs88.67), Siemens Pakistan Engineering Ltd (Rs47.44), Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs40.42), Premium Textile Mills Ltd (Rs35.65) and Khyber Tobacco Company Ltd (Rs35.22).
Companies that recorded the biggest declines in their share prices in absolute terms were Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs29.75), Indus Motor Company Ltd (Rs16.09), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (Rs10.22), Al-Ghazi Tractors Ltd (Rs6.97) and Systems Ltd (Rs6.36).
Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $1.18m.
Published in Dawn, May 27TH, 2023
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