KARACHI: The Pakistan stocks market closed lower on Monday owing to a lack of market participation due to the rescheduling of Saudi Crown Prince’s visit besides a rally in the international oil prices, analysts said.

An analyst at Topline Securities said that the equity market commenced the week on a negative note owing to delays in Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF) talks and the rescheduling of the Saudi Crown Prince’s visit.

“A rally on the global commodity front also contributed to negative sentiments as international oil prices were trading up over 3 per cent. The KSE-100 Index initially opened in the red zone and remained negative throughout the session,” he added.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange KSE-100 shares Index shed 242.12 points, or 0.56 per cent to close at 42,850.83 points. The KSE-30 shares Index shed 69.44 points, or 0.44 per cent to close at 15,729.04 points.

As many as 353 scrips were active of which 120 advanced, 211 declined and 22 remained unchanged.

An analyst at Arif Habib Limited said that the benchmark KSE-100 Index started the week poorly as the trading session commenced in the red zone and proceeded to remain in the same range due to a lack of investors’ participation.

“The main board activity remained flat, while the third tier stocks continued to be the volume leaders,” he added.

The ready market volumes stood at 185.53 million shares, compared with the turnover of 232.78 million shares in the last trading session.

The companies which reflected the highest gains included Gatron Industries up Rs28.01 to close at Rs430/share, and Reliance Cotton up Rs19 to close at Rs634/share.

The companies which reflected the most losses included Allawasaya Tex down Rs213.18 to close at Rs2,629.38/share, and Pak Services down Rs55.75 to close at Rs712/share.

The highest volumes were witnessed in Hascol Petrol with a turnover of 26.55 million shares. The scrip gained 27 paisas to close at Rs7.88/share, followed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company with a turnover of 12.83 million shares. It gained 21 paisas to close at Rs7.60/share. Lotte Chemical remained the third with a turnover of 10.22 million shares. It gained Rs2.14 to close at Rs30.76/share.

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