Staff Reporter
Karachi
The stock market limped along and closed lower on Monday. Caution reigned supreme in a sluggish trading session, ahead of the monetary policy’s announcement in the evening.
The benchmark KSE-100 index remained volatile in the early half of the day, recording sharp swings albeit in a narrow range. However, after midday, the absence of triggers caused a significant decline in the index, which hit intra-day low of 42,123.61 points.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 330.62 points, or 0.78%, to close at 42,174.14 points.
“Financial, fertiliser and exploration and production sectors were the major laggards where HBL (-0.9%), MCB (-0.5), Engro Corporation (-0.9%), Oil and Gas Development Company (-1.6%), Pakistan Petroleum (-0.9%) and Pakistan Oilfields (-0.3) remained in the red.” Fauji Foods (-1.2%) also lost ground.
Traded value stood at $68 million, down 17% and volumes came in at 434 million shares, down 16% compared to the last trading session. Overall, trading volumes fell to 433.9 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 516.1 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs11.3 billion.
Shares of 408 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 115 stocks closed higher, 277 declined and 16 remained unchanged. Aisha Steel Mills was the volume leader with 58.9 million shares, gaining Rs0.98 to close at Rs15.49. It was followed by Unity Foods with 48.2 million shares, gaining Rs0.26 to close at Rs18.35 and Fauji Foods with 36 million shares, losing Rs0.88 to close at Rs18.44.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs100.32 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.
