KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bearish session on Wednesday owing to a major hike in global commodity prices.

The price of oil exceeded $112 per barrel, reinforcing the view that a prolonged Russian-Ukraine conflict may wreak further havoc on the global economy.

According to Arif Habib Ltd, stocks in the cement sector took a major correction after a spike in international coal prices. Strong participation was observed in the stocks of exploration and production firms as well as oil marketing companies on the back of rising petroleum prices. Meanwhile, value investors accumulated blue-chip stocks across the board, it added.

As a result, the KSE-100 index lost 289.46 points or 0.65 per cent on a day-on-day basis to close at 44,514.12 points.

The trading volume decreased 24pc to 235 million shares while the traded value went down 10.5pc to $52.6m on a day-on-day basis.

Sectors that took away the highest number of points from the benchmark index included cement (84.27 points), fertiliser (59.41 points), commercial banking (58.48 points), power generation and distribution (30.18 points) and investment banking (29.83 points).

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included TRG Pakistan Ltd (21.92m shares), TeleCard Ltd (15.11m shares), Hum Network Ltd (12.76m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (11.11m shares) and Agritech Ltd (9.98m shares).

Shares contributing positively to the index included TRG Pakistan Ltd (56.68 points), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (30.62 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (21.5 points), National Bank of Pakistan Ltd (17.7 points) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (16.55 points).

Stocks that took away the maximum number of points from the index included Lucky Cement Ltd (46.13 points), Engro Corporation Ltd (41.54 points), Systems Ltd (36.27 points), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (29.58 points) and The Hub Power Company Ltd (22.71 points).

Stocks recording the biggest declines in percentage terms on a day-on-day basis were IGI Holdings Ltd (3.77pc), Dawood Hercules Corporation Ltd (3.62pc), Pioneer Cement Ltd (3.42pc), Honda Atlas Cars Ltd (3.14pc) and Century Paper and Board Mills Ltd (3.06pc).

Foreign investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth $0.086m.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2022