Stocks lose 158 points as LC curbs hit manufacturing

The stock ma­r­­­ket observed lacklustre activity on Monday as investors sold stocks to book profits. Topline Securities said worries about economic and political conditions kept investors on the sidelines. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stock prices went down across the board owing to the foreign exchange crisis that’s been hurting industrial units. Co­m­panies belonging to the manufacturing sector have been facing problems in ope­n­ing the letters of credit bec­ause of a shortage of dollars. In addition, uncertainty over the outcome of Pakistan-International Monetary Fund talks over the ninth review of the ongoing loan programme also played the role of a catalyst in the bearish close. As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 41,540.55 points, down 157.73 points or 0.38 per cent from the preceding session. The overall trading volume decreased 30.2pc to 133.6 million shares. The traded value went down 9.7pc to $14.4m on a day-on-day basis.