KARACHI: The rising number of Covid-19 cases along with higher international oil prices kept the stock market under pressure on Monday, said Arif Habib Ltd.

Even though the rupee recovered a bit against the dollar, trading on the bourse stayed dull throughout the day because of the risk aversion by stock investors. The cement sector was in the red zone on the back of an uptick in international coal prices.

As a result, the benchmark index lost 151.25 points from a day ago to close at 45,612.2 points.

Market participation decreased 27.7 per cent to 173.5 million shares while the value of traded shares went up 0.1pc to $34.7m.

Sectors taking away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included technology and communication (100.82 points), commercial banking (28.01 points), refinery (21.91 points), textile (7.44 points) and insurance (7.33 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (25.49m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (20.07m shares), Cnergyico PK Ltd (12.9m shares), Alfalah Consumer Index ETF (6.82m shares) and TeleCard Ltd (6.28m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included Lucky Cement Ltd (21.21 points), The Hub Power Company Ltd (15.78 points), Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (6.78 points), GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Ltd (5.84 points) and Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (5.62 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included TRG Pakistan Ltd (87.53 points), Habib Bank Ltd (17.4 points), Avanceon Ltd (10.58 points), National Refinery Ltd (8.25 points) and Cnergyico PK Ltd (8.13 points).

Stocks recording the biggest declines in percentage terms included TRG Pakistan Ltd, which went down 7.48pc, followed by National Refinery Ltd (4.47pc), Azgard Nine Ltd (4.39pc), Avanceon Ltd (3.97pc) and Attock Refinery Ltd (3.36pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded securities worth $0.256m.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2022