Bourse closes in red zone over lackluster activity

KARACHI: The Pakistan equity market closed lower on Monday as the investors remained on the sidelines over concerns regarding the macroeconomics of the country besides the heated political environment, analysts said.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the local bourse witnessed lackluster activity as the benchmark KSE-100 Index was down 0.38 per cent.

“After a positive opening, the market witnessed some profit-taking as the investors remained concerned over the deteriorating economic and political conditions,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 157.73 points, or 0.38 per cent, to close at 41,540.55 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 48.91 points, or 0.32 per cent, to close at 15,353.47 points.

As many as 323 scrips were active of which 92 advanced, 204 declined and 27 remained unchanged.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the trading in the first session of the week remained range-bound due to instability on the economic and political fronts.

“Despite opening in the green zone, the KSE-100 Index failed to maintain the positive momentum on the back of political and economic uncertainty. The volumes on the main board remain low, while decent volumes were witnessed in the third-tier stocks,” he added.

The ready market volumes stood at 133.55 million shares, compared with the turnover of 191.38 million shares in the last trading session.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Premium Textile up Rs44 to close at Rs668.90/share, and Indus Motor up Rs19.14 to close at Rs995.01/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Unilever Foods down Rs750 to close at Rs25,000/share, and Nestle Pakistan down Rs131 to close at Rs5,650/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Dewan Motors with a turnover of 8.52 million shares. The scrip gained Rs1.11 to close at Rs16.68/share, followed by WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 7.26 million shares. It shed 3 paisas to close at Rs1.35/share. Dewan Farooque remained the third with a turnover of 6.51 million shares. It gained 23 paisas to close at Rs4.57/share.

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