PSX remains range-bound ahead of monetary policy announcement

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued to trade range-bound on Friday and the KSE-100 Index rose by a meagre 0.08% as investors awaited announcement of interest rate by the State Bank of Pakistan.

After the close of the session, the central bank notified a 100 basis-point hike in the key interest rate, taking it to 16%. By the end of the session, the KSE-100 Index was up 33.08 points or 0.08% at 42,936.73.

KSE-100 closes with marginal gain ahead of COAS appointment

Trading began with a jump but selling pressure gripped the index and the market ended the first session with a 53-point gain. The second session was a mixture of upside and downside pressures and the market oscillated between the red and green zones. Late session buying aided the index in closing with green.

Index-heavy automobile, banking and chemical sectors closed mixed while cement sector ended with loss. On the other hand, the oil space closed with a gain.

A report from Capital Stake stated that the PSX closed last trading session of the week flat.

“Indices traded in green for most part of the day till finally closing flat while volumes surged from last close,” it said. “Investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the monetary policy announcement later in the day.”

Moreover, the ongoing political situation of the country dented investors’ confidence further.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the week concluded with another range-bound trading session at the PSX.

“The session began on in the positive zone after the name of the new COAS was announced, providing much-needed clarity on the political ground,” the report said. “However, after the second session resumed, the index traded in a narrow range, drying up volumes as investors chose to remain on the sidelines in anticipation of today's Monetary Policy announcement.”

On the economic front, rupee lost Re0.03 or 0.01% per dollar against the US dollar ending the session at Rs223.94.

Foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP decreased $134 million on a weekly basis, clocking in $7.83 billion as of November 18, 2022.

Sectors pushing the benchmark KSE-100 index upwards included fertiliser (34.23 points), miscellaneous (26.32 points) and banking (21.80 points).

Volume on the all-share index rose to 177.3 million from 153.1 million on Thursday. The value of shares traded rose to Rs6.1 billion from Rs5.9 billion recorded in the previous session.

Hum Network XB was the volume leader with 19.3 million shares, followed by Dewan Motors with 12.3 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 10.6 million shares

Shares of 340 companies were traded on Friday, of which 136 registered an increase, 174 recorded a fall, and 30 remained unchanged.