KSE-100 closes range-bound session with marginal loss

The Pakistan Stock Exchange reversed its direction on Wednesday and the KSE-100 Index fell 0.11% after trading in a narrow range.

Lack of investor enthusiasm marred the trading environment and kept the market under pressure.

At close on Wednesday, the KSE-100 finished with a decrease of 43.31 points or 0.11% to settle at 40,758.2.

KSE-100 rises 0.73% on Geneva pledges

Following a positive open, selling pressure gripped the market in initial hours and dragged the KSE-100 Index lower. Buying spell in final hours propped the market upward however late session selling made it close in the red.

Index-heavy automobile, cement, chemical and banking sector closed with modest losses while the energy space ended the day mostly in green.

A report from Capital Stake underlined that the PSX ended a volatile session on Wednesday flat.

“Indices swayed in both directions until finally closing flat while volumes decreased from previous close,” it said.

A report from Topline Securities stated that the KSE-100 Index saw range bound day .

“The KSE-100 Index opened in a green zone and made an intraday high at 40,988 (+187 points; up 0.46%). However, profit taking directed benchmark index towards intraday low at 40,597 (-204 points; down 0.50%) before eventually settled at 40,758 (-43 points; down 0.11%) for the day.”

On the economic front, rupee lost Re0.04 or 0.02% per dollar, ending the session at Rs227.92.

Sectors dragging the benchmark KSE-100 Index downwards included cement (45.17 points), banking (30.84 points) and technology and communication (28.86 points).

Volume on the all-share index fell to 189.4 million from 214.3 million on Tuesday. However, the value of shares traded rose to Rs6.98 billion from Rs6.57 billion recorded in the previous session.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 20.5 million shares, followed by Pakistan Petroleum with 17.8 million shares, and Sui Southern Gas Company with 15.1 million shares.

Shares of 324 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 104 registered an increase, 194 recorded a fall, and 26 remained unchanged.