KARACHI: The Pakistan bourse closed in the red zone on Monday as political uncertainty and delays in the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme grappled the market, analysts said.

Commodities expert Ahsan Mehanti said that the stocks fell across the board on political noise after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) called for the dissolution of the provincial assemblies besides the investors’ concerns over security unrest in the country.

“The investors’ concerns over negotiations with the IMF for the ninth review, global equity sell-off and surge in Pakistan dollar bond yields played a catalyst role in the bearish close,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 330.66 points, or 0.80 per cent, to close at 40,970.82 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 165.68 points, or 1.09 per cent, to close at 15,076.12 points.

As many as 317 scrips were active of which 82 advanced, 220 declined and 15 remained unchanged.

The ready market volumes stood at 142.57 million shares, compared with the turnover of 139.65 million shares in the last trading session.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the week started on a negative note at the bourse due to the ongoing political uncertainty, which kept investors squaring up their position in the market.

“Decent volumes were observed on the mainboard although third-tier stocks remained in the spotlight,” he added.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Pak Services up Rs98 to close at Rs1,548/share, and Sapphire Fiber up Rs55 to close at Rs1,270/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Rafhan Maize down Rs591 to close at Rs8,165/share, and Nestle Pakistan down Rs140.72 to close at Rs5,340.28/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Bank Al-Falah with a turnover of 29.01 million shares. The scrip shed 7 paisas to close at Rs30.68/share, followed by WorldCall Telecom with a turnover of 12.44 million shares. It shed 4 paisas to close at Rs1.23/share. Hascol Petrol remained the third with a turnover of 9.45 million shares. It shed 71 paisas to close at Rs6.09/share.

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