KSE-100 Index rises 0.44% in range-bound trading session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range-bound session on Thursday and the KSE-100 Index rose 0.44%.

Market traded in green whole day but it was unable to report significant gains.

At close on Thursday, the KSE-100 Index finished with an increase of 177.44 points or 0.44% to settle at 40,790.74.

KSE-100 falls 0.22% in roller-coaster session

Trading began with a spike and the market turned range-bound after initial minutes. Buying interest in the final hour helped elevate the gains.

Index-heavy automobile, cement, chemical and banking segments saw sell-off while oil space closed in the green.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated another range-bound session was recorded at the PSX.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index opened in the green and hit an intra-day high of 251.44 points and traded in the narrow range throughout the trading session.

“The prevailing political and economic uncertainty kept the investors at bay as volumes in the mainboard decline considerably while third tier stocks continued to dominate the volume board,” it said.

A report from Capital Stake stated bulls made a comeback at the PSX on Thursday. Indices accumulated gains all day long while volumes fell from previous close, it said.

On the economic front All-Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) reported domestic cement sales fell by 9.39% on year-on-year basis while exports contracted by 61.9% from same period last year.

Moreover, rupee registered marginal loss against the US dollar for 12th successive session, depreciating 0.07% or Re0.17 in the inter-bank market to close at 227.12.

Sectors painting the benchmark KSE-100 Index in green included fertiliser (69.04 points), miscellaneous (56.02 points) and oil and gas exploration (54.51 points).

Volume on the all-share index plunged to 111.8 million from 142.9 million on Wednesday. The value of shares traded declined to Rs3.1 billion from Rs4.3 billion recorded in the previous session.

K-Electric was the volume leader with 18.6 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 8.5 million shares, and BankIslami with 7.4 million shares.

Shares of 308 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 124 registered an increase, 161 recorded a fall, and 23 remained unchanged.