KSE-100 rises marginally in roller coaster session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) recorded a roller coaster session on Thursday and the KSE-100 Index ticked up 0.11% owing to surge in investor participation.

An increase in margins of oil marketing companies by the government on Wednesday acted as a positive trigger for investors and they made fresh buying.

By the end of the session, the KSE-100 Index closed with a gain of 44.89 points or 0.11% at 42,658.39.

KSE-100 falls 0.06% in range-bound session

Trading began with a jump but the index was unable to sustain the uptrend and the market began declining towards noon. The index traded in a narrow range for the rest of the day and closed with meagre gain.

Index-heavy banking sector closed in the green while automobile space ended on a mixed note. On the other hand, cement and oil sectors recorded losses and ended in red.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that a positive session was witnessed at the PSX, continuing the acclamatory momentum from the previous close.

“An increase in OMC margins facilitated the market participation on the higher side,” it said. “The market opened in positive territory and made an intraday high of 309.76 points as investors elected for value angling in the main board.”

Healthy volumes were recorded across the board, whereas third tier stocks remained volume leaders, it said.

A report from Capital Stake said that the PSX closed another range-bound session on Thursday flat. Indices traded in green for most part of the day, while volumes surged from last close, it said.

On the economic front, inflation reading clocked in at 23.8% on a year-on-year basis in November 2022 against 26.6% in October 2022.

Moreover, the government of Pakistan decided to keep the petrol prices unchanged at Rs224.80 for the fourth time. In addition, rupee recorded an appreciation of 0.12% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday and closed at 223.69

Sectors lifting the benchmark KSE-100 higher included banking (73.48 points), miscellaneous (25.66 points) and power generation and distribution (19.81 points).

Volume on the all-share index rose to 161.8 million from 120.2 million on Wednesday. The value of shares traded inched up to Rs4.69 billion from Rs4.66 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 15.3 million shares, followed by Hascol with 12.1 million shares and Ghani Chemical XB with 7.8 million shares

Shares of 344 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 180 registered an increase, 142 recorded a fall, and 22 remained unchanged.