Profit-taking pulls stocks below 42,000

• KSE-100 index settles at 41,859.30 points.
• Benchmark index opens the week on a negative note.
• Shares of 340 companies were traded during the session.

KARACHI: The bears continued to dominate trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday as the benchmark KSE-100 index extended losses from the previous week and recorded a decline of over 450 points. Succumbing to late-session profit-taking, the benchmark opened the week on a negative note.

The market opened on a positive note on the first day of the week despite the prevailing volatility on the political front, however, news regarding damage from flash floods to the economy dented investor sentiment. However, the KSE-100 index failed to maintain positive momentum as bulls withdrew and bears took over.

The persistently depreciating Pakistani rupee against the US dollar in the interbank market further fuelled bearish sentiment. The lack of positive triggers stumped investor confidence and as a result, profit taking was witnessed at the bourse and the week closed on a negative note.

At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index settled at 41,859.30 points with a decrease of 449.81 points or 1.06%.

A report from Arif Habib Limited noted that the benchmark KSE-100 index witnessed a bloodbath session today due to concerns over inflation and growth rate due to the prevailing flood crisis.

“The market opened in the positive zone but profit taking was witnessed throughout the day,” the brokerage house noted, adding that the volumes remained dull across the main board, on the contrary, hefty volumes were observed in the third-tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance included banks (-68.1 points), technology (-67.1 points), cement (-56.3 points), fertiliser (-48 points), and power (-38.2 points).

Shares of 340 companies were traded during the session. At the close of trading, 68 scrips closed in the green, 253 in the red, and 19 remained unchanged.

Overall trading volumes declined to 156.80 million shares compared with Friday's tally of 160.13 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.36 billion.

Worldcall Telecom Limited was the volume leader with 14.84 million shares traded, losing Rs0.05 to close at Rs1.21. It was followed by Pakistan Refinery with 12.79 million shares traded, losing Rs0.91 to close at Rs17.91 and Hascol Petroleum with 12.77 million shares traded, gaining Rs0.10 to close at Rs6.54.