The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index closed a volatile session on a positive note as late-session buying helped the index settle with an overall gain of 246 points.
During the first half of the session, selling pressure continued as the KSE-100 hit an intra-day low of 61,750.97.
However, a buying spree aided the index gain ground and close in the green.
At close, the KSE-100 settled at 62,693.57, up by 245.56 points or 0.39%.
Positive contributions from stocks in the OMC and refinery sectors such as PPL, PSO, OGDC, CNERGY, and ATRL, collectively added 183 points. On the contrary, DAWH, MCB, and ENGRO resulted in a combined loss of 133 points, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
On Wednesday, the PSX remained in the correction phase, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index lost nearly 400 points to settle at 62,448.01
Experts say the selling pressure comes on account of correction after the Pakistani market showed impressive growth in recent weeks, pushing the index to record high levels of over 66,000.
Globally, equities took a hit on Thursday after Wall Street snapped a long winning streak, while Treasury yields were near five-month lows on hopes Britain’s notably soft inflation reading would be echoed in looming US price data.
The equities rally, which had been driven by falling interest rates and the Federal Reserve’s dovish turn, stalled on Thursday even after US economic data that beat expectations initially turned the major indexes green.
A far steeper-than-expected decline in British inflation also took markets by surprise.
All three major US stock indexes registered a decline.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.27%, the S&P 500 lost 1.47% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.5%.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee maintained its momentum against the US dollar for the eighth consecutive session as it appreciated 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Thursday. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the local unit settled at 282.79 after an increase of Re0.11 against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index decreased to 812.3 million from 1.18 billion a session before.
The value of shares fell to Rs16.68 billion from Rs26.03 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 209.3 million shares, followed by Cnergyico PK with 101.5 million, and WorldCall Telecom at 59.8 million shares.
Shares of 358 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 251 registered an increase, 93 recorded a fall, while 14 remained unchanged.
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