KSE-100 trades in narrow range amid lack of clarity

A day after losing 1,250 points, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range-bound session amid political uncertainty, as the benchmark index ended only marginally positive on Tuesday, while volumes remained thin.

At close on Tuesday, the KSE-100 ended with a gain of 26.03 points, or 0.06%, to finish at 43,928.08.

The session comes a day after the KSE-100 plummeted due to the ongoing political upheaval in the country, falling nearly 2.8%.

Political upheaval: KSE-100 suffers 1,250-point fall even as participation remains thin

“Investors have adopted a cautious approach due to ongoing political situation of the country,” said Capital Stake in a post-market comment.

On Tuesday, range-bound activity throughout the session led the benchmark index to make an intraday high of 387 points. However, this positivity was short-lived and profit-taking was witnessed in the second half.

“During the second hour of trading, value buying was observed which led the KSE 100 index to stay in the positive zone as a rally was witnessed in the cement and fertiliser sectors,” said Arif Habib Limited in a note. “In the last trading hour, across the board profit-taking was witnessed."

On the economic front, the Pakistan rupee crossed the 185 level for the first time to record a new low against the US dollar, closing at 185.23 in the inter-bank market.

On the corporate front, the PSX informed that it has simplified the Sahulat Account. “The Sahulat Account provides exceptional ease of account opening for investors whereby they can open a Sahulat Account by only submitting their CNIC/ SNIC and start investing up to an amount of Rs800,000,” it said in a statement.

Sectors adding gains to the KSE-100 index included banking (18.06 points), chemical (15.01 points) and fertiliser (9.00 points).

Volume on the all-share index decreased to 115.64 million from 170.48 million on Monday. The value of shares traded also declined to Rs4.58 billion from Rs5.49 billion recorded in the previous session.

Telecard Limited was the volume leader with 12.91 million shares, followed by TPL Properties with 6.71 million shares, and Engro Polymer with 6.52 million shares.

Shares of 302 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 154 registered an increase, 125 recorded a fall, and 23 remained unchanged.