Stocks down on worsening economic conditions

Stock prices plummeted on Thursday after bouncing within a small range on the back of a deteriorating macroeconomic situation. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti said the shares market came under pressure as investors reacted to a report by international investment bank JPMorgan, which projected the central bank raising the policy rate by 400 basis points to 20 per cent by the end of 2022-23 amid high inflation. In addition, a declining trend in remittances coupled with a recent business confidence survey held by the foreign investors’ chamber of commerce that showed an unfavourable business environment also unnerved investors. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,651.61 points, down 167.68 points or 0.4pc from the preceding session. The overall trading volume increased 2.9pc to 227.8 million shares. The traded value went down 30.8pc to $18.1m on a day-on-day basis. Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included Kohinoor Spinning Mills Ltd (25.2m shares), Hum Network Ltd (23.7m shares), Hascol Petroleum Ltd (13m shares), Dewan Farooque Spinning Mills Ltd (12.8m shares) and Dewan Cement Ltd (12.8m shares).