Failing to hold on to the gains made during the day, the benchmark KSE-100 index closed only marginally positive with volume dominated by WorldCall Limited that saw close to 134 million shares changing hands on Wednesday.

At close, the index finished with a gain of 35.12 points or 0.08% to end at 45,916.25. The KSE-100 had hit an intra-day high of 46,220.

“Major interest was witnessed in the E&Ps sector on account of higher international oil prices. However, this positivity did not sustain at the bourse as market witnessed profit-taking in the final hours,” said Topline Securities in a post-market comment.

On the economic front, Pakistan’s circular debt was reported to have reached Rs2.41 trillion during the first five months (July-November) of 2021-22 as compared to Rs 2.306 trillion in the same period 2020-21, with average growth of Rs 26 billion per month, totalling to Rs 130 billion, official sources told Business Recorder.

On the corporate front, Regal Automobile Industries Limited applied for listing on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), to raise Rs 800 million to invest in its Electric Vehicle assembly line.

KSE-100 ends marginally lower as investors look for direction

Sectors that helped the benchmark index included oil and gas exploration (66.09 points), fertiliser (26.21 points) and textile composite (13.14 points).

Volumes increased substantially, clocking in at 514.38 million on the all-share index, up from 339.1 million on Tuesday. The value of shares traded also improved to Rs10.60 billion from Rs9.75 billion.

WorldCall Telecom was the volume leader with 133.91 million shares, followed by Unity Foods Limited (R3) with 39.15 million shares, and Hascol Petroleum with 23.44 million shares.

Shares of 377 companies were traded on Wednesday, of which 176 registered an increase, 169 recorded a fall, and 32 remained unchanged.