KSE-100 falls 0.23% in rangebound trading session

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw a lacklustre trading session on Tuesday and the KSE-100 Index traded in a narrow range to end the day with a marginal loss.

Prolonged political unrest in the country discouraged investors from assuming fresh positions.

Bearish sentiment at bourse, KSE-100 falls over 400 points

At close, the KSE-100 Index was down 95.76 points or 0.23% to settle at 41,099.31.

Trading began with a dive but the market erased most of the losses in initial hour. From this point on, the KSE-100 Index remained range-bound to closed the session in red.

Index-heavy cement, chemical, fertiliser and oil spaces closed with a loss while automobile sector ended the day on a mixed note.

A report from Arif Habib Limited stated that the PSX witnessed a mixed session on Tuesday.

“The market opened in the green but the index swung both ways considering the political unrest in the state,” he said. “Investors participation remained sluggish throughout the trading session as the bourse closed off in red.”

Volumes remained decent across the board while the third tier equities led the volume board, the report added.

A report from Capital Stake stated that investors of the PSX witnessed a range-bound session on Tuesday.

“Indices traded in both zones until finally closing flat while volumes remained low,” it said.

On the economic front, rupee sustained losses against the US dollar for the fifth successive session, depreciating 0.21% or Re0.59 in the inter-bank market on Tuesday to close at 287.15.

Sector dragging the benchmark KSE-100 index downwards included, oil and gas exploration (32.32 points), banking (19.37 points) and power generation and distribution (17.18 points).

Volume on the all-share index declined to 91.5 million from 97.7 million on Monday, while the value of shares traded decreased to Rs2.4 billion from Rs2.8 billion recorded in the previous session.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 23.2 million shares followed by K-Electric Limited with 8.55 million shares and Unity Foods with 3.7 million shares.

Shares of 305 companies were traded on Tuesday, of which 116 registered an increase, 152 recorded a fall and 37 remained unchanged.