Stocks fall on rising COVID cases

KARACHI: Pakistan stocks have declined by 36 points on Tuesday amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 44,888 points as against previous day’s closing of 44,924 points, showing a decrease of 36 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note as Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) kept the policy rate unchanged at 9.75 percent.

Cement stocks remained in the limelight due to expectation of tremendous earnings in the upcoming results.

The market stayed in the green zone but profit taking was witnessed in the last trading hour, which led the index to close in the red zone due to alarming Covid-19 cases and mounting international oil prices.

The main board activity remained gloomy. On the flip-side, activity continued to remain side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the 3rd tier stocks.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Technology (-91.3points), E&P (-38.8points), Chemical (-21.8points), Insurance (-8.5points) and Power (-5.8points).

Volumes increased from 160.2 million shares to 207.0 million shares (+29.2 per cent DoD). Traded value also increased by 41.3 per cent to reach US$ 45.9 million as against US$ 32.5 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include WAVES, TRG, TREET, CNERGY and WTL.