KSE-100 rises marginally as economic instability caps gains

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a range-bound session on Friday and the KSE-100 Index increased 0.21% owing to blend of upside and downside pressures.

Economic and political instability added selling pressure to the index and restrained it from posting lofty gains. Investors remained largely on the sidelines resulting in thin volumes.

The KSE-100 index closed the trading session at 41,352.99, an increase of 86.22 points or 0.21%.

KSE-100 offloads 0.15% in turbulent trading session

Trading began on a mixed note and the market remained volatile throughout first session. The second session began with a short-lived spike and the market traded in narrow range for most part of the day to close with marginal gain.

Chemical and fertiliser sectors ended the day in green while chemical and oil space closed in the red. On the other hand, automobile and banking sectors closed mixed.

A report from Arif Habib Limited underlined that the week concluded with another mixed session at the PSX.

“As a result of the country’s precarious political and economic condition, the benchmark KSE-100 index had a range bound session,” it said. “Investors chose to be cautious during the trading session, as sideways activity was observed.”

Volumes were flat, while the cement sector remained in the spotlight following a substantial surge in cement dispatch numbers, the report said.

A report from Capital Stake highlighted that the PSX ended another volatile session on Friday flat.

“Indices traded between both zones while volumes fell from last close,” it said.

Sectors pushing the benchmark KSE-100 Index towards the negative zone included, banking (56.29 points), food and personal care products (26.62 points) and textile composite (10.00 points).

Volume on the all-share index inched down to 99.55 million from 99.95 million on Thursday, while the value of shares traded jumped to Rs3.3 billion from Rs2.9 billion recorded in the previous session.

Pakistan International Bulk Terminal was the volume leader with 10.4 million shares followed by WorldCall Telecom with 9.4 million shares and DG Khan Cement with 8.1 million shares.

Shares of 296 companies were traded on Friday, of which 146 registered an increase, 120 recorded a fall and 30 remained unchanged.