KSE-100 inches up marginally in volatile session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) endured a volatile session on Wednesday and the KSE-100 Index ended marginally higher as investors waited for signing of staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Delay in signing of the deal has added to uncertainty to the market.

At close on Wednesday, the KSE-100 Index recorded an increase of 24.24 points or 0.06% to close at 41,358.93.

KSE-100 falls 0.24% in topsy-turvy session

Trading began with a jump and the KSE-100 Index hit an intra-day high in initial hours. The market flattened at this point and traded in a narrow range for the remaining part of the session.

Index-heavy automobile, cement, banking and fertiliser spaces saw modest losses while oil and gas segment ended the day on mixed note.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that a positive session was recorded at the PSX.

“The market opened in green zone and traded within a narrow range throughout the day reaching an intra-day high of 283.97 points as investors await for the government and IMF to reach a SLA,” it said. “Investors’ involvement remained passive due to the prevailing political uncertainty, decent volumes were witnessed across the board.”

A report from Capital Stake stated that the PSX ended another volatile session on Wednesday flat.

“Indices accumulated gains for most part of the day until finally settling flat. Volumes increased from last close,” it said.

On the economic front, the country’s central government’s debt rose by 30% on year-on-year basis to Rs54,942 billion. Out of the total debt 62% debt was from domestic sources, while remaining 38% was from external sources.

Rupee depreciated Rs1.25 or 0.45% on Wednesday to close at 279.12 against the US dollar.

Sectors driving the benchmark KSE-100 index north included power generation and distribution (43.78 points), banking (41.46 points) and oil and gas exploration (22.76 points).

Volume on the all-share index rose to 162.9 million from 160.1 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded increased to Rs6.3 billion from Rs5.3 billion recorded in the previous session.

Hascol was the volume leader with 14.4 million shares followed by Telecard Limited with 7.9 million shares and WorldCall Telecom with 7.8 million shares.

Shares of 335 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 148 registered an increase, 164 recorded a fall and 23 remained unchanged.