KSE-100 inches up slightly amid range bound trading

The KSE-100 managed to recover losses and inched up slightly from the last session amid improvement in volumes in a range-bound session witnessed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.

Accumulating 149.26 points, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an intraday high of 47,272.88. The index swayed in the negative direction and fell to day’s low of 46,928.16 losing 195.46 points and falling below 47,000.

At close on Tuesday, the KSE-100 settled flat by positive 11.86 points or 0.03% to end at 47,135.48.

"A slight decline in Covid cases improved sentiment at the bourse, while the Pak-Afghan tension kept the market gain in check," said Topline Securities in its post-market comment.

An important development that came from the financial sector on Tuesday was the SBP's announcement of Overseas Workers remittances inflows. Remittances by overseas Pakistanis registered an increase of 1% MoM to USD 2,707mn during Jul'21 (above USD 2bn for the 14th consecutive months) compared to USD 2,688mn during Jun'21. On YoY basis, it went down by 2%.

KSE-100 under pressure, loses 366 points

Sectors that rescued the KSE-100 index from the negative zone included food and personal care products (21.97 points), cement (15.06 points), and pharmaceutical (8.19 points)

Volume on the all-share index increased from 337.29 million on Monday to 370.03 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded during the session also witnessed a rise to Rs12.09 billion, from Rs11.33 billion on Monday.

WorldCall Telecom remained the volume leader with 42.93 million shares, followed by Telecard Limited with 29.44 million shares, and Azgard Nine at 28.42 million shares.

Shares of 475 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 224 registered an increase, 228 recorded a fall, while 23 remained unchanged.