Stocks falter on delay in deal with lender
Share prices closed on the lower side on Tuesday as investors reacted negatively to the news report that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requires assurance on financing the expected gap in the balance of payments in 2022-23. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said the ratings’ downgrade by Moody’s of five banks along with a slump in textile exports, which dropped 28 per cent to $1.2 billion in February, played the role of a catalyst in the bearish close. Arif Habib Ltd noted that the index of representative shares moved both ways throughout the trading session owing to the prevailing political unrest. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,334.69 points, down 99.64 points or 0.24pc from the preceding session. The overall trading volume decreased 27.7pc to 160.1 million shares. The traded value went down 26.4pc to $19.2m on a day-on-day basis. Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Telecard Ltd (23.6m shares), WorldCall Telecom Ltd (12.3m shares), Maple Leaf Cement Factory Ltd (10m shares), K-Electric Ltd (8.6m shares) and Pioneer Cement Ltd (7m shares).