Range-bound trading as KSE-100 ends flat

A brief start in the green after passage of the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021 and the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill in the National Assembly was followed by profit-booking as the KSE-100 ended flat at close on Friday.

The KSE-100 opened positive and inched closer to 46,000 as participants hailed the government's success in getting the 'mini-budget' and SBP amendment bills cleared through the National Assembly on Thursday.

However, by close, the index finished flat to end at 45,763.45, posting a gain of 0.25 points. On a week-on-week basis, the benchmark index was up 0.9%.

“Resumption of the IMF programme holds the key for market performance with its importance continuing to grow with commodities regaining momentum recently,” said AKD Securities in its report. “Hence, we expect the market to remain range-bound until Pakistan completes all prior actions, after which we see a strong run in the index likely driven by value stocks though the checkpoint would be the commodities price trends,” it added.

On the economic front, remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis were up 3.42% YoY to $2,520.40 million.

On the corporate front, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) held a gong ceremony to officially mark the launch of JS Momentum Factor Exchange Traded Fund (JSMFETF). The ETF is an investment product that combines the characteristics of both mutual funds and individual securities.

KSE-100 down 0.33% as rising coronavirus cases hurt sentiment

Volumes decreased, clocking in at 239.98 million on the all-share index, down from 327.60 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded also declined, albeit marginally, to Rs6.10 billion from Rs6.48 billion.

Unity Foods Limited was the volume leader with 26.27 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 25.14 million shares, and Cnergyico PK with 23.68 million shares.

Shares of 350 companies were traded on Friday, of which 136 registered an increase, 194 recorded a fall, and 20 remained unchanged.