The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) saw another volatile session on Thursday, as the benchmark KSE-100 swung both ways to end flat, while both the volume and value of shares traded declined.
During the session, the benchmark index oscillated between an intra-day high of 64,936.76 (up 289.91 points) and an intra-day low of 64,098.11 (decrease of 548.74 points).
At close, the benchmark index settled at 64,639.16 level, a decrease of 7.69 points or 0.01%.
Earlier during the trading, selling was witnessed among some index-heavy sectors including cement, chemical, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCS while automobile assemblers and refinery sectors traded in the green.
On Wednesday, the benchmark KSE-100 settled at 64,646.85, an increase of 297.25 points or 0.46%.
Experts attributed the selling to profit-taking being carried out by the investors.
The profit-taking comes after the bourse enjoyed a remarkable 2023, with the benchmark KSE-100 hitting new peaks and emerging as the best-performing asset class in the country, delivering a return of nearly 55% in the 12 months (in rupee terms).
In the inter-bank market, the Pakistani rupee registered back-to-back gains against the US dollar, improving 0.02% to settle at 281.67 on Thursday.
Globally, Asian markets continued their disappointing start to the year Thursday, tracking another loss on Wall Street after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting dampened hopes for an early interest rate cut.
The global rally that characterised the last months of 2023 has petered out at the start of the new year owing to worries the buying may have run a little ahead of itself, leading traders to take a breather.
The selling pressure was enhanced Wednesday when the Fed minutes showed officials expect to keep rates elevated for some time as they want to make sure they have inflation under control.
That dealt a blow to confidence on trading floors, where investors had been betting on a cut as soon as March after the bank’s post-meeting statement last month showed they envisioned three reductions in 2024.
Meanwhile, volume on the all-share index decreased to 548.9 million from 639.6 million a session before.
The value of shares also declined to Rs15.4 billion from Rs20.3 billion in the previous session.
K-Electric Ltd was the volume leader with 154.7 million shares, followed by WorldCall Telecom with 37.1 million shares, and Fauji Foods Ltd at 27.3 million shares.
Shares of 360 companies were traded on Thursday, of which 155 registered an increase, 184 recorded a fall, while 21 remained unchanged.
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