Pakistan stocks again witnessed a bearish day, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index falling another 105 points as higher oil prices and rapidly rising Omricon cases dented investor sentiment.
During the session on Tuesday, KSE 100 moved within a band of nearly 300 points, hitting an intra-day high of 45,758.
At close, however, the index finished at 45,507.41, a decrease of 104.79 points or 0.23%
“The news of rise in the number of coronavirus cases and increase in crude oil prices continued to dent investor confidence,” said Capital Stake.
Oil prices rose more than $1 on Tuesday to a more than seven-year high on worries about possible supply disruptions after Yemen's Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates, escalating hostilities between the Iran-aligned group and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition.
Meanwhile, the fifth coronavirus wave continued to worsen in Pakistan as the country reported another 5,034 cases, the highest since August, while the positivity level increased to 9.45%, an eight-month high.
On the economic front, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet on January 28 for Pakistan's sixth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), it was learned on Tuesday.
It was also reported that Pakistan would soon issue US dollar-denominated Sukuk bonds as it looks to shore up its foreign exchange reserves in the face of a rising import bill.
On the corporate front, the board of TRG Pakistan Limited appointed Waleed Tariq Saigol as its chairman, the company informed through a filing at the bourse.
Meanwhile, sectors contributing to the market retreat included cement (74.81 points), power generation and distribution (40.79 points) and technology and communication (36.17 points).
KSE-100 retreats 0.33% as coronavirus cases, high oil prices take toll
Volumes decreased substantially, clocking in at 165.14 million on the all-share index, down from 173.5 million on Monday. The value of shares traded, however, increased to Rs7.6 billion, up from Rs6.104 billion a day ago.
TRG Pakistan Limited was the volume leader with 20.69 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 17.67 million shares, and Hub Power Co with 8.15 million shares.
Shares of 350 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 129 registered an increase, 199 recorded a fall, and 22 remained unchanged.
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