KSE-100 ends marginally lower after rollercoaster session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange witnessed a mixed session on Wednesday and the KSE-100 fell marginally by 0.07% owing to volatility and lack of positive news flow to give a direction to the market.

By the end of the session, the KSE-100 index shed 28.8 points or 0.07% to close at 43,337.97 points.

The stock market saw a hybrid of upside and downside pressure as the rollover week took effect.

KSE-100 rises 1.26% on interest rate clarity

Trading began with a spike and the index breached the 43,500-point mark in the initial hour. A sell-off became evident towards noon which pulled the market lower and erased all gains.

From this point onward, the market traded in a narrow range and ended the day marginally lower.

Automobile and refinery sectors ended the day on positive note while cement, fertiliser, oil sectors saw huge sell-off. On the other hand, the banking space closed mixed.

A report from Capital Stake stated that the PSX ended a volatile session on Wednesday flat. Indices swayed in both directions while volumes depreciated from last close.

A report from Topline Securities cited equities saw a mixed session where the KSE-100 moved in the range of 384 points.

During the session, the benchmark index made an intra-day high of 43,684 points and intra-day low of 43,300 points.

On the economic front, Pakistan reported a current account deficit of $1,210 million in July 2022 compared to a $2,275 million in June 2022.

Moreover, the rupee lost Rs0.72 against the US dollar, ending the session at Rs218.3767.

Sectors adding downside pressure to the benchmark KSE-100 higher included cement (52.10 points), miscellaneous (43.51 points) and investment banking (19.06 points).

Volume on the all-share index fell to 256.48 million from 324.4 million on Tuesday. On the other hand, the value of shares traded decreased to Rs8.75 billion from Rs9.65 billion recorded in the previous session.

Hascol was the volume leader with 27 million shares, followed by K-Electric with 20.8 million shares, and PIA (C) with 13.49 million shares.

Shares of 342 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 129 registered an increase, 184 recorded a fall, and 29 remained unchanged.