The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed volatile session on Friday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index swayed in both directions before closing the day nearly flat.
The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 159,337.46.
However, selling in the final hours erases the earlier gains.
At close, the benchmark index settled at 158,037.37, marginally up by 83.90 points or 0.05%.
“Following a robust positive session yesterday, the market witnessed a range-bound trading day, reflecting a tug of war between optimistic investors riding the bullish momentum and cautious participants looking to book profits ahead of the futures contract roll-over week,” brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report.
Earlier, buying interest was observed in key sectors including commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HUBCO, ARL, MCB, MEBL and NBP traded in the green.
On Thursday, PSX closed on a bullish note as across-the-board buying, spurred by news of a mutual defense agreement signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, pushed key indices to fresh highs for the week. The KSE-100 surged 1,775.65 points, or 1.14%, to settle at 157,953.47 points.
The KSE-100 Index increased 2.3% on week-on-week basis, as liquidity continued to drive the market to new highs largely on institutional buying, Topline said.
Internationally, Asian shares are set to end a big central week in positive territory, buoyed by hopes of more monetary stimulus around the world, while the Nikkei notched a record, aided by expectations the Bank of Japan would again skip a rate hike.
This week, central banks in the United States, Canada and Norway cut interest rates while the Bank of England held steady. The Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep its easy monetary policy unchanged on Friday amid domestic political uncertainties.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.3% on Friday but is still set for a weekly rise of 0.5%, hovering not far from its four-year tops.
Friday is also the day when stock options, index options and stock index futures all expire on the same day, leading to increased trading activity and potential market volatility.
Both Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were little changed.
Chinese blue chips inched up 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng eased 0.3% ahead of an expected phone call between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
There is a lot for investors to mull leading into that meeting with a deal on TikTok possibly close, China’s Huawei outlining its chip plans, Beijing ordering tech firms, opens new tab not to buy Nvidia’s AI chips.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee maintained its positive momentum against the US dollar, appreciating marginally in the inter-bank market on Friday. At close, the rupee settled at 281.46, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback. This was the rupee’s 31st consecutive gain against the greenback.
Volume on the all-share index increased to 2,047 million from 1,959 million recorded in the previous close. The value of shares rose to Rs69.27 billion from Rs56.93 billion in the previous session.
Cnergyico PK was the volume leader with 170.30 million shares, followed by B.O.PunjabXD with 167.28 million shares, and WorldCall Telecom with 163.00 million shares.
Shares of 486 companies were traded on Friday, of which 189 registered an increase, 266 recorded a fall, while 31 remained unchanged.
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